Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design concepts and performance analysis of multicarrier CDMA for indoor visible light communications

In this paper, we present a design methodology with implementational insight and evaluate the performance of a multicarrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system using intensity modulation/direct detection scheme suitable for an indoor visible light communication (VLC) environment. The proposed system is a CDMA system based on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) platform. To overcome the light-dimming issue, we use a newly proposed methodology, namely, polarity reversed optical OFDM (PRO-OFDM). A unipolar signal is either added to the minimum current or subtracted from the maximum current in the LED linear current range to provide various amounts of dimming. The CDMA part employs Hadamard sequences to provide synchronous resource sharing. Combining the robustness of orthogonal modulation with the flexibility of CDMA schemes makes the proposed system a viable candidate for future indoor wireless communications such as VLC. The performance of the proposed MC-CDMA is evaluated, and mathematical formulations for the proposed system are derived. For example, closed-form equations for the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and bit error rate (BER) performance are obtained. Furthermore, the analytical formulations are used in numerical analysis to verify the BER performance achieved in simulation results.
The use of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index-2000 to define active disease and minimal clinically meaningful change based on data from a large cohort of systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Objectives. To examine SLEDAI-2000 cut-off scores for definition of active SLE and to determine the sensitivity to change of SLEDAI-2000 for the assessment of SLE disease activity and minimal clinically meaningful changes in score. Methods. Data from two multi-centre studies were used in the analysis: in a cross-sectional and a longitudinal fashion. At every assessment, data were collected on SLEDAI-2000 and treatment. The cross-sectional analysis with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was used to examine the appropriate SLEDAI-2000 score to define active disease and increase in therapy was the reference standard. In the longitudinal analysis, sensitivity to change of SLEDAI-2000 was assessed with multinomial logistic regression. ROC curves analysis was used to examine possible cut-points in score changes associated with change in therapy, and mean changes were estimated. Results. In the cross-sectional analysis, the most appropriate cut-off scores for active disease were 3 or 4. In the longitudinal analysis, the best model for predicting treatment increase was with the change in SLEDAI-2000 score and the score from the previous visit as continuous variables. The use of cut-points was less predictive of treatment change than the use of continuous score. The mean difference in the change in SLEDAI-2000 scores, adjusted for prior score, between patients with treatment increase and those without was 2.64 (95% CI 2.16, 3.14). Conclusions. An appropriate SLEDAI-2000 score to define active disease is 3 or 4. SLEDAI-2000 index is sensitive to change. The use of SLEDAI-2000 as a continuous outcome is recommended for comparative purposes.
CodY Regulates Thiol Peroxidase Expression as Part of the Pneumococcal Defense Mechanism against H2O2 Stress

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a facultative anaerobic pathogen. Although it maintains fermentative metabolism, during aerobic growth pneumococci produce high levels of H2O2, which can have adverse effects on cell viability and DNA, and influence pneumococcal interaction with its host. The pneumococcus is unusual in its dealing with toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in that it neither has catalase nor the global regulators of peroxide stress resistance. Previously, we identified pneumococcal thiol peroxidase (TpxD) as the key enzyme for enzymatic removal of H2O2, and showed that TpxD synthesis is up-regulated upon exposure to H2O2. This study aimed to reveal the mechanism controlling TpxD expression under H2O2 stress. We hypothesize that H2O2 activates a transcription factor which in turn up-regulates tpxD expression. Microarray analysis revealed a pneumococcal global transcriptional response to H2O2. Mutation of tpxD abolished H2O2-mediated response to high H2O2 levels, signifying the need for an active TpxD under oxidative stress conditions. Bioinformatic tools, applied to search for a transcription factor modulating tpxD expression, pointed toward CodY as a potential candidate. Indeed, a putative 15-bp consensus CodY binding site was found in the proximal region of tpxD-coding sequence. Binding of CodY to this site was confirmed by EMSA, and genetic engineering techniques demonstrated that this site is essential for TpxD up-regulation under H2O2 stress. Furthermore, tpxD expression was reduced in a ΔcodY mutant. These data indicate that CodY is an activator of tpxD expression, triggering its up-regulation under H2O2 stress. In addition we show that H2O2 specifically oxidizes the 2 CodY cysteines. This oxidation may trigger a conformational change in CodY, resulting in enhanced binding to DNA. A schematic model illustrating the contribution of TpxD and CodY to pneumococcal global transcriptional response to H2O2 is proposed.
Quantitative Analysis of the Detection Limits for Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soils by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy.

Abstract : Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a rapid remote measurement method for detection of metals in the environment. A major factor in the quantitative use of this technique involves the minimum detection limits under laboratory and field operations. Nd:YAG laser pulses (125 mJ, lambda = 1.06 micrometers) are focused on sample surfaces to produce laser sparks (plasmas). Plasma emissions are recorded after interference from broadband emissions is reduced. Results are reported on the lower detection limits of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb and Zn in sand, silt, clay and kaolin. Detection limits are significantly lower in sand than silt and clay. An excimer laser (125 mJ, lambda = 248 nm) was used for comparative LIBS analysis of lead (Pb) in silt. No significant difference was found in the lower detection limits using excimer and Nd:YAG lasers. The LIBS method must provide accurate data when used in a cone penetrometer. Conditions encountered by a cone penetrometer-based LIBS system have been simulated by compressing soil samples and then allowing them to relax for specific intervals before LIBS analysis. Results are presented of the dependence of LIBS measurements on the relaxation time after soil sample compression. This data is important for a firm understanding of detection limits for field-deployable LIBS systems.
Structure of Toxoplasma gondii coronin, an actin‐binding protein that relocalizes to the posterior pole of invasive parasites and contributes to invasion and egress

Coronins are involved in the regulation of actin dynamics in a multifaceted way, participating in cell migration and vesicular trafficking. Apicomplexan parasites, which exhibit an actin‐dependent gliding motility that is essential for traversal through tissues, as well as invasion of and egress from host cells, express only a single coronin, whereas higher eukaryotes possess several isoforms. We set out to characterize the 3‐D structure, biochemical function, subcellular localization, and genetic ablation of Toxoplasma gondii coronin (TgCOR), to shed light on its biological role. A combination of X‐ray crystallography, small‐angle scattering of X‐rays, and light scattering revealed the atomic structure of the conserved WD40 domain and the dimeric arrangement of the full‐length protein. TgCOR binds to F‐actin and increases the rate and extent of actin polymerization. In vivo, TgCOR relocalizes transiently to the posterior pole of motile and invading parasites, independent of actin dynamics, but concomitant to microneme secretory organelle discharge. TgCOR contributes to, but is not essential for, invasion and egress. Taken together, our data point toward a role for TgCOR in stabilizing newly formed, short filaments and F‐actin cross‐linking, as well as functions linked to endocytosis and recycling of membranes. —Salamun, J., Kallio, J. P., Daher, W. , Soldati‐Favre, D. , Kursula, I. , Structure of Toxoplasma gondii coronin, an actin‐binding protein that relocalizes to the posterior pole of invasive parasites and contributes to invasion and egress. FASEB J. 28, 4729–4747 (2014). www.fasebj. org
Draco: Statistical diagnosis of chronic problems in large distributed systems

Chronics are recurrent problems that often fly under the radar of operations teams because they do not affect enough users or service invocations to set off alarm thresholds. In contrast with major outages that are rare, often have a single cause, and as a result are relatively easy to detect and diagnose quickly, chronic problems are elusive because they are often triggered by complex conditions, persist in a system for days or weeks, and coexist with other problems active at the same time. In this paper, we present Draco, a scalable engine to diagnose chronics that addresses these issues by using a “top-down” approach that starts by heuristically identifying user interactions that are likely to have failed, e.g., dropped calls, and drills down to identify groups of properties that best explain the difference between failed and successful interactions by using a scalable Bayesian learner. We have deployed Draco in production for the VoIP operations of a major ISP. In addition to providing examples of chronics that Draco has helped identify, we show via a comprehensive evaluation on production data that Draco provided 97% coverage, had fewer than 4% false positives, and outperformed state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques by up to 56% for complex chronics.
Stacking under uncertainty: We know how to predict, but how should we act?

We consider the problem of stacking containers in a given set of stacks of fixed maximum capacity when the pick-up times are stochastic with unknown probability distributions. The goal is to minimize the expected number of times a container is picked up while it is not at the top of its stack. We formulate several algorithms under varying assumptions about the available knowledge about the pick-up-time distributions. We distinguish four qualitatively different settings: 1) we know nothing about the actual distributions, 2) we have point estimates of the means, 3) we have point estimates of means and variances, or 4) we have historical samples of actual pick-up times. For each assumption we propose one or more algorithms. We test the algorithms empirically in many different scenarios, considering both sequential and concurrent arrivals. Additionally, we consider the computational complexity and ease of use of each algorithm.
Attentional Modulation of Firing Rate Varies with Burstiness across Putative Pyramidal Neurons in Macaque Visual Area V4

One of the most well established forms of attentional modulation is an increase in firing rate when attention is directed into the receptive field of a neuron. The degree of rate modulation, however, can vary considerably across individual neurons, especially among broad spiking neurons (putative pyramids). We asked whether this heterogeneity might be correlated with a neuronal response property that is used in intracellular recording studies to distinguish among distinct neuronal classes: the burstiness of the neuronal spike train. We first characterized the burst spiking behavior of visual area V4 neurons and found that this varies considerably across the population, but we did not find evidence for distinct classes of burst behavior. Burstiness did, however, vary more widely across the class of neurons that shows the greatest heterogeneity in attentional modulation, and within that class, burstiness helped account for differences in attentional modulation. Among these broad spiking neurons, rate modulation was primarily restricted to bursty neurons, which as a group showed a highly significant increase in firing rate with attention. Furthermore, every bursty broad spiking neuron whose firing rate was significantly modulated by attention exhibited an increase in firing rate. In contrast, non-bursty broad spiking neurons exhibited no net attentional modulation, and, although some individual neurons did show significant rate modulation, these were divided among neurons showing increases and decreases. These findings show that macaque area V4 shows a range of bursting behavior and that the heterogeneity of attentional modulation can be explained, in part, by variation in burstiness.
BENCHMARKING BIG DATA SYSTEMS AND THE BIGDATA TOP100 LIST ORIGINAL ARTICLE

''Big data'' has become a major force of innovation across enterprises of all sizes. New platforms with increasingly more features for managing big datasets are being announced almost on a weekly basis. Yet, there is currently a lack of any means of comparability among such platforms. While the performance of traditional database systems is well understood and measured by long-established institutions such as the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TCP), there is neither a clear definition of the performance of big data systems nor a generally agreed upon metric for comparing these systems. In this article, we describe a community-based effort for defining a big data benchmark. Over the past year, a Big Data Benchmarking Community has become established in order to fill this void. The effort focuses on defining an end-to-end application-layer benchmark for measuring the performance of big data applications, with the ability to easily adapt the benchmark specification to evolving challenges in the big data space. This article describes the efforts that have been undertaken thus far toward the definition of a BigData Top100 List. While highlighting the major technical as well as organizational challenges, through this article, we also solicit community input into this process.
Molecular analysis of multiple cytochrome P450 genes from the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae

Cytochrome P450s are a superfamily of haemoproteins, important in the metabolism of endogenous compounds and xenobiotics. As a first step to elucidating the role of this family in insecticide resistance in the malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, we have cloned and mapped multiple P450 genes. Sixteen cDNAs encoding full‐length P450s were cloned and physically mapped to the mosquito's polytene chromosomes. Fourteen of these encode putative CYP6 proteins and two encode P450s belonging to the CYP9 class. Eighteen new A. gambiae Cyp4 P450 genes were identified using degenerate PCR primers, cDNAs were detected for ten and in situ locations for thirteen members of this gene family.
Childhood problem behaviors and injury risk over the life course.

BACKGROUND Childhood externalizing and internalizing behaviors have been associated with injury risk in childhood and adolescence, but it is unknown whether this association continues to hold in adulthood. We examined whether externalizing and internalizing behaviors expressed in childhood predict injuries in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. METHODS The participants were from the 1958 British birth cohort (n = 11,537). Problem behaviors were assessed by teachers at ages 7 and 11. Injuries were reported by the participants' parents (at ages 7, 11, 16) and by the participants (at ages 23, 33, 42, and 46). Data on injury severity were available at ages 23 and 33, and on types of injuries at ages 23, 33, and 42. Measures of childhood family environment included father's social class, family size, and family difficulties. Adult psychological distress, treated as a potential mediating factor, was assessed at ages 23, 33, and 42. RESULTS Externalizing behavior predicted increased injury risk: one SD increase in externalizing score was associated with 10-19% increase in the rate of injuries in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In contrast, internalizing behavior decreased injury rate by 3-9% in adolescence and adulthood. Externalizing behavior was associated with various types of injuries, including injuries in traffic, at home, at work, and from violent assaults, while internalizing behavior predicted decreased injury risk particularly in sports, in traffic, and at home. These associations were largely independent of childhood family environment and adult psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that childhood problem behaviors predict injury risk over the life course from childhood to midlife, with externalizing behaviors increasing and internalizing behaviors decreasing this risk.
Analyzing and modeling gaze during face-to-face interaction

We present here the analysis of multimodal data gathered during realistic face-to-face interaction of a target speaker with a number of interlocutors. Videos and gaze have been monitored with an experimental setup using coupled cameras and screens with integrated eye trackers. With the aim to understand the functions of gaze in social interaction and to develop a coherent gaze control model for our talking heads we investigate the influence of cognitive state and social role on the observed gaze behavior.
Helping News Editors Write Better Headlines: A Recommender to Improve the Keyword Contents & Shareability of News Headlines

We present a software tool that employs state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques to help newspaper editors compose effective headlines for online publication. The system identifies the most salient keywords in a news article and ranks them based on both their overall popularity and their direct relevance to the article. The system also uses a supervised regression model to identify headlines that are likely to be widely shared on social media. The user interface is designed to simplify and speed the editor's decision process on the composition of the headline. As such, the tool provides an efficient way to combine the benefits of automated predictors of engagement and search-engine optimization (SEO) with human judgments of overall headline quality.
Probabilistic Replay of Java Programs on Multiprocessors

Alongside the rise of multiprocessor machines, the concurrent programming model has grown to near ubiquity, being the only possibility for developers wanting to take full advantage of their performance. Unfortunately, reasoning about concurrent programs is hard and bugs that stem from unanticipated interactions between tasks are easy to hatch. On the contrary, finding and fixing these bugs is a complex and time-consuming endeavour. To make matters worse, the debugging tools that programmers have relied on for decades fall short when applied to concurrent programs. Systems capable of replaying non-deterministic executions have long been proposed as a solution for this limitation of conventional methods. We survey previous work on deterministic replay systems and present a taxonomy for classifying them. Moreover, we describe the objectives of our future work and how they are to be achieved by proposing an architecture and evaluation methodology for a replayer of concurrent Java programs. The key property of the system is its probabilistic approach: partial production run information is traced and an offline exploration of untraced non-deterministic space is used to achieve deterministic replay. This approach enables an efficient recording phase, at the cost of a potentially longer replay phase which, being done offline, is not as performance critical.
Plastic Limit Analysis of Piping with Local Wall-Thinning under Elevated Temperature

In order to evaluate the safety and integrity of piping with local wall-thinning at elevated temperature, a numerical method for plastic limit load of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel piping is proposed in the present paper. The limit load of piping at high temperature is defined as the load-carrying capacity after the structure has served for a certain time period. The power law creep behavior with Liu-Murakami damage model is implemented into the commercial software ABAQUS via CREEP for simulation, and the Ramberg-Osgood model is modified to consider the material deterioration effect of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel by introducing the creep damage factor into the elasto-plastic constitutive equation. For covering the wide ranges of defect ratios and service time periods, various 3-D numerical examples for the piping with local wall-thinning defects, and creep time are calculated and analyzed. The limit loads of the defected structures under high temperature are obtained through classic zero curvature criterion with the modified Ramberg-Osgood model, and the typical failure modes of these piping are also discussed. The results show that the plastic limit load of piping containing defect at elevated temperature depends not only on the size of defect, but also on the creep time, which is different from the traditional plastic limit analysis at room temperature without material deterioration.
BitTorrent Sync: Network Investigation Methodology

The volume of personal information and data most Internet users find themselves amassing is ever increasing, and the fast pace of the modern world results in most people requiring instant access to their files. Millions of these users turn to cloud-based file synchronisation services, such as Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, Apple iCloud and Google Drive, to enable "always-on" access to their most up-to-date data from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection. The prevalence of recent articles regarding invasion of privacy issues and data protection breaches in the media has caused many to review their online personal data security practices. To provide an alternative to cloud-based file backup and synchronisation, BitTorrent Inc. released an alternative cloudless file backup and synchronisation service, named BitTorrent Sync in April 2013. BitTorrent Sync's popularity rose dramatically throughout 2013, reaching over two million active users by the end of the year. This paper outlines a number of scenarios where the network investigation of the service may prove invaluable as part of a digital forensic investigation. An investigation methodology is proposed outlining the required steps involved in retrieving digital evidence from the network and the results from a proof of concept investigation are presented.
Safety of patient handover in emergency care – results of a qualitativestudy

The paper presents the results of a qualitative study investigating safety of patient handover in the emergency care pathway. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 practitioners from two NHS ambulance services and three hospitals in England. Thematic analysis identified two main themes: (1) there are tensions in the activity of handover, which practitioners deal with by making dynamic trade-offs based on their expertise and depending on the particular situation; (2) the management of patient and information flows across organisational boundaries is a key factor affecting the quality and safety of handover. The results suggest that there is a need for greater collaboration across organisational boundaries, and that organisational policies and procedures should provide flexibility to practitioners enabling them to make necessary local trade-offs based on their expertise
Hierarchical Models for Activity Recognition

In this paper we propose a hierarchical dynamic Bayesian network to jointly recognize the activity and environment of a person. The hierarchical nature of the model allows us to implicitly learn data driven decompositions of complex activities into simpler sub-activities. We show by means of our experiments that the hierarchical nature of the model is able to better explain the observed data thus leading to better performance. We also show that joint estimation of both activity and environment of a person outperforms systems in which they are estimated alone. The proposed model yields about 10% absolute improvement in accuracy over existing systems