Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sweet Little Lies: Fake Topologies for Flexible Routing

Link-state routing protocols (e.g., OSPF and IS-IS) are widely used because they are scalable, robust, and based on simple abstractions. Unfortunately, these protocols are also relatively inflexible, since they direct all traffic over shortest paths. In contrast, Software Defined Networking (SDN) offers fine-grained control over routing, at the expense of controller overhead, failover latency, and deployment challenges. We argue that future networks can achieve the benefits of both approaches through central control over the distributed route computation. The key idea, which we call Fibbing, is to have the controller trick the routers into seeing a fake topology that is carefully constructed to achieve the desired Forwarding Information Base (FIB). Given an acyclic forwarding graph for each destination, the controller computes an augmented topology with fake nodes (and destinations to announce there) and fake links (and link weights). The controller injects these "lies" into the link-state routing protocol, and the routers simply compute the paths accordingly. The controller can also select an augmented topology that triggers the use of specific backup paths when real links and routers fail. To reduce router load, our Fibbing algorithms compute augmented topologies of minimal size. Our preliminary evaluation on realistic ISP topologies shows that Fibbing works well in practice.
Zebrafish ale oko, an essential determinant of sensory neuron survival and the polarity of retinal radial glia, encodes the p50 subunit of dynactin

Although microtubule-dependent motors are known to play many essential functions in eukaryotic cells, their role in the context of the developing vertebrate embryo is less well understood. Here we show that the zebrafish ale oko (ako) locus encodes the p50 component of the dynactin complex. Loss of ako function results in a degeneration of photoreceptors and mechanosensory hair cells. Additionally, mutant Müller cells lose apical processes and their perikarya translocate rapidly towards the vitreal surface of the retina. This is accompanied by the accumulation of the apical determinants Nok and Has/aPKC in their cell bodies. ako is required cell-autonomously for the maintenance of the apical process but not for cell body positioning in Müller glia. At later stages, the retinotectal projection also degenerates in ako mutants. These results indicate that the p50 component of the dynactin complex is essential for the survival of sensory neurons and the maintenance of ganglion cell axons, and functions as a major determinant of apicobasal polarity in retinal radial glia.
Expectation-maximization Methods for Solving (po)mdps and Optimal Control Problems

As this book demonstrates, the development of efficient probabilistic inference techniques has made considerable progress in recent years, in particular with respect to exploiting the structure (e.g., factored, hierarchical or relational) of discrete and continuous problem domains. In this chapter we show that these techniques can be used also for solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) or partial observable MDPs (POMDPs) when formulated in terms of a structured dynamic Bayesian network (DBN). The problems of planning in stochastic environments and inference in state space models are closely related, in particular in view of the challenges both of them face: scaling to large state spaces spanned by multiple state variables, or realizing planning (or inference) in continuous or mixed continuous-discrete state spaces. Both fields developed techniques to address these problems. On the other hand, recent advances in inference techniques show how structure can be exploited both for exact inference as well as making efficient approximations. In view of these similarities one may ask whether existing techniques for proba-bilistic inference can directly be translated to solving stochastic planning problems. From a complexity theoretic point of view, the equivalence between inference and planning is well-known (see, e.g., Littman et al., 2001). Inference methods have been applied before to optimal decision making in contrary to MDPs, these methods focus on a finite number of decisions and a non-stationary policy, where optimal decisions are found by recursing backward starting from the last decision (see (Boutilier et al., 1999) and (Toussaint, 2009) for a discussion of MDPs versus Influence Diagrams). More recently, Bui et al. (2002) have used inference on Abstract Hidden Markov Models for policy recognition, i.e., for reasoning about executed behaviors, but do not address the problem of computing optimal policies from such inference. Attias
Managing academic electronic publishing: Six case studies

Academic publishing faces major challenges such as increasing costs and a reduced subscription base. Electronic publishing promises benefits and solutions to these and other challenges. This study examines six cases of academic electronic journals and the management practices used by their editorial boards. The cases indicate that many of the anticipated benefits of e-journals can be achieved given structured management practices. However, electronic publishing presents several previously unknown challenges some of which can be resolved by individual journals but others, which we term Universal Issues, require new academic structures and a globally agreed upon set of policies. The case studies reported in this article are part of a larger study that interprets the cases in terms of an 8-M framework developed by the first author.
Overnesia: A Resilient Overlay Network for Virtual Super-Peers

Unstructured P2P networks have been widely used to implement resource location systems that support complex queries semantics. Unfortunately these systems usually rely on search algorithms based on some variant of flooding, which generate a significant amount of duplicate messages. An effective way to minimize the cost of query flooding in unstructured P2P networks is the use of super-peers. On the other hand, super-peers may become overloaded or may fail, and have a negative impact on the performance and connectivity of the overlay. These risks can be circumvented by replicating super-peers. Replication serves the dual purpose of supporting load distribution and fault-tolerance purposes. This paper proposes a novel algorithm to construct an overlay network connecting replicated super-peers. We have called the resulting overlay, Overnesia. The paper also proposes techniques to perform query routing that leverage on the unique properties of Overnesia to effectively distribute the query processing load among replicas.
Code Composition as an Implementation Language for Compilers

Code composition is an effective technique for a compiler to implement complex high-level operations. The developer (i.e., the language designer or compiler writer) provides building blocks consisting of sequences of code written in, e.g., C, that are combined by a composition system to generate the code for such a high-level operation. The composition system can include optimizations not commonly found in compilers; e.g., it can specialize the code sequences based on loop nesting depth or procedure parameters. We describe a composition system, Catacomb, and illustrate its use for mapping array operations onto a parallel system.
Vertical gradients and seasonal variation in stem CO2 efflux within a Norway spruce stand.

Stem CO2 efflux is known to vary seasonally and vertically along tree stems. However, annual tree- and stand-scale efflux estimates are commonly based on measurements made only a few times a year, during daytime and at breast height. In this study, the effect of these simplifying assumptions on annual efflux estimates and their influence on the estimates of the importance of stems in stand-scale carbon cycling are evaluated. In order to assess the strength of seasonal, diurnal and along-stem variability in CO2 efflux, half-hourly measurements were carried out at three heights on three mature Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst. ) trees over a period of 3 years. Making the common assumption of breast height efflux rates being representative of the entire stem was found to result in underestimations of 10-17% in the annual tree-scale CO2 efflux. Upscaling using only daytime measurements from breast height increased the underestimation to 15-20%. Furthermore, the results show that the strength of the vertical gradient varies seasonally, being strongest in the early summer and non-existent during the cool months. The observed seasonality in the vertical CO2 efflux gradient could not be explained by variation in stem temperature, temperature response of the CO2 efflux (Q10), outer-bark permeability, CO2 transport in the xylem or CO2 release from the phloem. However, the estimated CO2 concentration immediately beneath the bark was considerably higher in the upper stem during the main period of diameter growth, coinciding with the strongest vertical efflux gradient. These results suggest that higher growth rates in the upper stem are the main cause for the observed vertical variation in the stem CO2 effluxes. Furthermore, the results indicate that accounting for the vertical efflux variation is essential for assessments of the importance of stems in stand-scale carbon cycling.
Analyzing extended property graphs with Apache Flink

Graphs are an intuitive way to model complex relationships between real-world data objects. Thus, graph analytics plays an important role in research and industry. As graphs often reflect heterogeneous domain data, their representation requires an expressive data model including the abstraction of graph collections, for example, to analyze communities inside a social network. Further on, answering complex analytical questions about such graphs entails combining multiple analytical operations. To satisfy these requirements, we propose the Extended Property Graph Model, which is semantically rich, schema-free and supports multiple distinct graphs. Based on this representation, it provides declarative and combinable operators to analyze both single graphs and graph collections. Our current implementation is based on the distributed dataflow framework Apache Flink. We present the results of a first experimental study showing the scalability of our implementation on social network data with up to 11 billion edges.
Neuromodulation to improve gait and balance function using a sensory neuroprosthesis in people who report insensate feet – A randomized control cross-over study

Peripheral neuropathy may cause loss of sensory information from plantar cutaneous mechanoreceptors that is important for balance control and falls management. The current study investigated short-term effects of using Walkasins, an external lower-limb sensory neuroprosthesis, on clinical outcomes of balance and gait in persons who reported peripheral neuropathy and balance problems. The device replaces lost plantar sensation with tactile balance information that modulates cutaneous mechanoreceptors above the ankle where sensation is intact. Thirty-one male community-dwelling Veterans, 56–84 years old with insensate feet and balance problems participated. Initial Functional Gait Assessment, gait speed, and 4-Stage Balance Test outcomes were assessed. After initial assessment, subjects were randomly assigned to either wearing Walkasins turned ON, or OFF, and outcomes were re-assessed following a set of standardized balance exercises. Following a one-hour rest and washout period, treatments were crossed-over between groups and a third outcomes assessment was performed. Before cross-over, 10 of 15 subjects in the ON-then-OFF group improved their Functional Gait Assessment score by at least four points, the Minimal Clinically Important Difference, compared to 5 of 16 in the OFF-then-ON group. After cross-over, 7 of 16 subjects in the OFF-then-ON group improved by at least four points versus 2 of 15 in the ON-then-OFF group. ON treatment was associated with a Functional Gait Assessment improvement of 4.4 ± 3.7 points versus 1.5 ± 1.2 for the OFF treatment (p<0.01). Overall, Functional Gait Assessment scores changed from 15.2 ± 4.8 at initial assessment to 21.1 ± 5.2 after final assessment (p<0.001). At the end of the two treatment sessions, 16 of the 31 individuals had improved their Functional Gait Assessment score beyond 23, indicating normal fall-risk status. Future studies should investigate long-term benefits of the device to reduce fall risk and actual falls in patients with peripheral neuropathy and balance problems.
Robust adaptive subspace extraction for DOA tracking

This paper addresses the problem of extracting a time-varying signal subspace from noisy signal measurements for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation and tracking. A robust adaptive method for extracting the signal subspace is developed based on robust statistics. The method is more resistant to the presence of outliers than existing adaptive methods. Robust DOA estimation and tracking are achieved by incorporating the method with the TLS-ESPRIT method. Experimental results demonstrate the viability and superiority of the proposed method over existing methods.
A generic architecture for on-chip packet-switched interconnections

This paper presents an architectural study of a scalable system-level interconnection template. We explain why the shared bus, which is today's dominant template, will not meet the performance requirements of tomorrow's systems. We present an alternative interconnection in the form of switching networks. This technology originates in parallel computing, but is also well suited for heterogeneous communication between embedded processors and addresses many of the deep submicron integration issues. We discuss the necessity and the ways to provide high-level services on top of the bare network packet protocol, such as dataflow and address-space communication services. Eventually we present our first results on the cost/performance assessment of an integrated switching network.
Fault Tolerance and the Five-Second Rule

We propose a new approach to fault tolerance that we call bounded-time recovery (BTR). BTR is intended for systems that need strong timeliness guarantees during normal operation but can tolerate short outages in an emergency, e.g., when they are under attack. We argue that BTR could be a good fit for many cyber-physical systems. We also sketch a technical approach to providing BTR, and we discuss some challenges that still remain.
Review and analysis of China workshop on machine translation 2013 evaluation

This paper gives a general review and detailed analysis of China Workshop on Machine Translation (CWMT) Evaluation. Compared with the past CWMT evaluation campaigns, CWMT2013 evaluation is characterized as follows: first, adopting gray-box evaluation which makes the results more replicable and controllable; second, adding one rule-based system as a counterpart; third, carrying out manual evaluations on some specific tasks to give a more comprehensive analysis of the translation errors. Boosted by those new features, our analysis and case study on the evaluation results shows the pros and cons of both rule-based and statistical systems, and reveals some interesting correlations bewteen automatic and manual evaluation metrics on different translation systems.
Joint power control, scheduling and routing for multihop energy harvesting sensor networks

We study wireless multihop energy harvesting sensor net works employed for random field estimation. The sensors sense the random field and generate data that is to be sent to a fusion node for estimation. Each sensor has an energy harvesting source and can operate in two modes: Wake and Sleep. We consider the problem of obtaining jointly optimal power control, routing and scheduling policies that ensure a fair utilization of network resources. This problem has a high computational complexity. Therefore, we develop a computationally efficient suboptimal approach to obtain good solutions to this problem. We study the optimal solution and performance of the suboptimal approach through some numerical examples.
Microbial Detoxification of Bifenthrin by a Novel Yeast and Its Potential for Contaminated Soils Treatment

Bifenthrin is one the most widespread pollutants and has caused potential effect on aquatic life and human health, yet little is known about microbial degradation in contaminated regions. A novel yeast strain ZS-02, isolated from activated sludge and identified as Candida pelliculosa based on morphology, API test and 18S rDNA gene analysis, was found highly effective in degrading bifenthrin over a wide range of temperatures (20–40°C) and pH (5–9). On the basis of response surface methodology (RSM), the optimal degradation conditions were determined to be 32.3°C and pH 7.2. Under these conditions, the yeast completely metabolized bifenthrin (50 mg·L−1) within 8 days. This strain utilized bifenthrin as the sole carbon source for growth as well as co-metabolized it in the presence of glucose, and tolerated concentrations as high as 600 mg·L−1 with a q max, K s and K i of 1.7015 day−1, 86.2259 mg·L−1 and 187.2340 mg·L−1, respectively. The yeast first degraded bifenthrin by hydrolysis of the carboxylester linkage to produce cyclopropanecarboxylic acid and 2-methyl-3-biphenylyl methanol. Subsequently, 2-methyl-3-biphenylyl methanol was further transformed by biphenyl cleavage to form 4-trifluoromethoxy phenol, 2-chloro-6-fluoro benzylalcohol, and 3,5-dimethoxy phenol, resulting in its detoxification. Eventually, no persistent accumulative product was detected by gas chromatopraphy-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. This is the first report of a novel pathway of degradation of bifenthrin by hydrolysis of ester linkage and cleavage of biphenyl in a microorganism. Furthermore, strain ZS-02 degraded a variety of pyrethroids including bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, fenvalerate, cypermethrin, and fenpropathrin. In different contaminated soils introduced with strain ZS-02, 65–75% of the 50 mg·kg−1 bifenthrin was eliminated within 10 days, suggesting the yeast could be a promising candidate for remediation of environments affected by bifenthrin. Finally, this is the first described yeast capable of degrading bifenthrin.
Localizing Pipe inspection robot using visual odometry

There is a special type of concrete pipe beneath the roads in Malaysia which is called culvert. Detecting the place of damages in these pipes is important for maintenance operations. Pipe inspection robots are one of the most reliable ways to achieve this goal. Because of the wheel slippage, low speed motion and dynamic changes in kinematic of the robot, the INS and wheel encoder methods are not accurate enough for localizing the robot inside a culvert. In this paper, we propose a solution based on monocular visual odometry. We show that although the surface of the culvert is not flat, nevertheless, by selecting an appropriate camera the optical flow of the pixels inside a small area near the center of the image is almost equal and for this reason the 3D motion of the robot can be estimated using the derivative of camera parameters. The experimental result shows this method is reliable and can be successfully used for localizing the robot inside the culverts.
Altered upper airway and soft tissue structures in the New Zealand Obese mouse.

RATIONALE The effect of obesity on upper airway soft tissue structure and size was examined in the New Zealand Obese (NZO) mouse and in a control lean mouse, the New Zealand White (NZW). OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that the NZO mouse has increased volume of neck fat and upper airway soft tissues and decreased pharyngeal airway caliber. METHODS Pharyngeal airway size, volume of the upper airway soft tissue structures, and distribution of fat in the neck and body were measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Dynamic MRI was used to examine the differences in upper airway caliber between inspiration and expiration in NZO versus NZW mice. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The data support the hypothesis that, in obese NZO versus lean NZW mice, airway caliber was significantly smaller (P < 0.03), with greater parapharyngeal fat pad volumes (P < 0.0001) and a greater volume of other upper airway soft tissue structures (tongue, P = 0.003; lateral pharyngeal walls, P = 0.01; soft palate, P = 0.02). Dynamic MRI showed that the airway of the obese NZO mouse dilated during inspiration, whereas in the lean NZW mouse, the upper airway was reduced in size during inspiration. CONCLUSIONS In addition to the increased volume of pharyngeal soft tissue structures, direct fat deposits within the tongue may contribute to airway compromise in obesity. Pharyngeal airway dilation during inspiration in NZO mice compared with narrowing in NZW mice suggests that airway compromise in obese mice may lead to muscle activation to defend upper airway patency during inspiration.
Increased excitability and molecular changes in adult rats after a febrile seizure

Both early life inflammation and prolonged febrile seizures have been associated with increased excitation in the adult brain. We hypothesized this may be due in part to changes in the cation‐chloride cotransporter system. Rat pups received saline or lipopolysaccharide/kainic acid (LPS/KA) resulting in inflammation, followed by a behavioral febrile seizure (FS) in approximately 50% of rats. Adult animals from the saline, inflammation, or inflammation + FS groups underwent the following: (1) in vitro electrophysiologic studies; (2) Western blotting or polymerase chain reaction; or (3) application of the Na‐K‐Cl cotransporter 1 (NKCC1) blocker bumetanide to determine its effect on reversing increased excitability in vitro. The inflammation and inflammation + FS groups demonstrated increased excitability in vitro and increased hippocampal protein expression of NR2B and GABAA α5 receptor subunits and mRNA expression of NKCC1. The inflammation + FS group also had decreased protein expression of GluR2 and GABAA α1 receptor subunits and mRNA and protein expression of KCC2. Bumetanide decreased in vitro 4‐aminopyridine‐induced inter‐ictal activity in the inflammation and inflammation + FS groups. The results demonstrate early‐life inflammation with or without a behavioral FS can lead to long‐lasting molecular changes and increased excitability in the adult rat hippocampus, although some changes are more extensive when inflammation is accompanied by behavioral seizure activity. Bumetanide is effective in reversing increased excitability in vitro, providing evidence for a causal role for cation‐chloride cotransporters and suggesting this drug may prove useful for treating epilepsy that develops after a FS.
Student Attitudes Towards and Impressions of Project Citizen

Assoc. Prof.Dr., Boise State University, sarafry@boisestate.edu GA. , University of Wyoming, abentaha@uwyo.eduVatandalik Projesi, Amerika Birlesik Devletleri genelinde ve uluslararasi alanda uygulanan bir vatandas egitimi program olmakla birlikte projenin ogrenci uzerindeki etkisi hakkinda literaturde eksik kalan bir konudur. Bu makale, su sorulara yanit bulmak icin tasarlanmis bir on calismadir: Ogrencilerin Vatandas Projesine karsi tutum ve algilari nelerdir? Bu projeye katilan ogrencilerle daha onceki projelere katilan ogrencilerin tutum ve algilari karsilastirildiginda ortaya cikan sonuclar nelerdir? 10 lise ogrencisi ve 23 universite birinci sinif ogrencisine bu calisma kapsaminda bir anket uygulanmistir. Calisma sonuclari lise ogrencilerinin Vatandaslik Projesine yonelik olumlu algilari oldugunu gostermektedir. Ayrica bu ogrenciler uygulamanin sivil sorumlulukla ilgili uzerlerinde onemli bir etki ve konuyu anlama yetisi gelistirdigini ifade etmislerdir. Buna karsilik, projenin birinci sinif universite ogrencilerine yonelik sivil sorumluluk ilgili etkisinis sinirli kaldigi gorulmustur. Sonuclar, ogrencilerin yurttaslik bilgi, beceri ve egilimlerini gelistirmeye yardimci olmak icin ozel ogrenme deneyimlerinin onemli oldugunu ve bu Vatandaslik Projesi gibi sivil programlarin daha fazla arastirilmasi gerektigini gostermektedir.