Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multicore Cache Coherence Control by a Parallelizing Compiler

A recent development in multicore technology has enabled development of hundreds or thousands core processor. However, on such multicore processor, an efficient hardware cache coherence scheme will become very complex and expensive to develop. This paper proposes a parallelizing compiler directed software coherence scheme for shared memory multicore systems without hardware cache coherence control. The general idea of the proposed method is that an automatic parallelizing compiler analyzes the control dependency and data dependency among coarse grain task in the program. Then based on the obtained information, task parallelization, false sharing detection and data restructuration to prevent false sharing are performed. Next the compiler inserts cache control code to handle stale data problem. The proposed method is built on OSCAR automatic parallelizing compiler and evaluated on Renesas RP2 with 8 SH-4A cores processor. The hardware cache coherence scheme on the RP2 processor is only available for up to 4 cores and the hardware cache coherence can be completely turned off for non-coherence cache mode. Performance evaluation is performed using 10 benchmark program from SPEC2000, SPEC2006, NAS Parallel Benchmark (NPB) and Mediabench II. The proposed method performs as good as or better than hardware cache coherence scheme. For example, 4 cores with the hardware coherence mechanism gave us speed up of 2.52 times against 1 core for SPEC2000 "equake", 2.9 times for SPEC2006 "lbm", 3.34 times for NPB "cg", and 3.17 times for MediaBench II MPEG2 Encoder. The proposed software cache coherence control gave us 2.63 times for 4 cores and 4.37 for 8 cores for "equake", 3.28 times for 4 cores and 4.76 times for 8 cores for lbm, 3.71 times for 4 cores and 4.92 times for 8 cores for "MPEG2 Encoder".
Using Azure Machine Learning for Estimating Indoor Locations

Indoor systems cannot obtain a precise estimate of the location, due to unstable signals. In this paper, we use realistic wireless data from the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) dataset and Azure Machine Learning Studio to perform Bagging (also called bootstrap aggregating). By using the machine leaning technique in the Azure Machine Learning Studio, we can obtain more than 69 percent precision in identifying the correct area among 247 areas with only 505 training data. This result is equivalent to the second place entry in the IEEE ICDM Data Mining Contest. We show that this can achieve a highly accurate location estimation.
Using Scanpaths as a Learning Method for a Conflict Detection Task of Multiple Target Tracking

Objective: The objective was to determine whether the scanpaths of air traffic controllers (ATCs) could be used to improve the performance of novices in a conflict detection task. Background: Studies in other domains show that novice performance can be improved by exposure to experts’ scanpaths. Whether this effect can be found for an aircraft conflict detection task is unknown. Method: Scanpaths of 25 professional ATCs (“experts”) were recorded using a medium-fidelity air traffic control simulation with realistic scripted traffic that included aircraft pairs that would lose separation. A total of 20 novices were exposed to experts’ scanpaths (“treatment”), and their performance (for both loss of separation detection rates and false alarm rates) was compared to that of 20 novices given no treatment or instructions (“control”) and 20 novices who were verbally instructed to attend to altitude (“instruction-only”). Interviews were held about the helpfulness of the exposure. The scanpaths were analyzed to find pattern differences among the three groups. Results: Chi-square tests showed significant differences for false alarm rates across the three groups (p = .001). Pairwise Mann–Whitney tests showed that the number of false alarms for the treatment group was significantly lower than that for the control group (p = .005), and trended lower than the instruction-only group (p = .08). Treatment group participants responded that experts’ scanpaths helped. Analysis of scanpaths showed an increased tendency of the scanpath treatment group to follow the experts’ scanpath. Conclusion: The scanpath training intervention improved novice performance by reducing false alarms. Application: Implementing experts’ scanpaths into novices’ active learning process shows promise in enhancing training effectiveness and reducing training time.
Isometric Non-Rigid Shape-from-Motion with Riemannian Geometry Solved in Linear Time

We study Isometric Non-Rigid Shape-from-Motion (Iso-NRSfM): given multiple intrinsically calibrated monocular images, we want to reconstruct the time-varying 3D shape of a thin-shell object undergoing isometric deformations. We show that Iso-NRSfM is solvable from local warps, the inter-image geometric transformations. We propose a new theoretical framework based on the Riemmanian manifold to represent the unknown 3D surfaces as embeddings of the camera's retinal plane. This allows us to use the manifold's metric tensor and Christoffel Symbol (CS) fields. These are expressed in terms of the first and second order derivatives of the inverse-depth of the 3D surfaces, which are the unknowns for Iso-NRSfM. We prove that the metric tensor and the CS are related across images by simple rules depending only on the warps. This forms a set of important theoretical results. We show that current solvers cannot solve for the first and second order derivatives of the inverse-depth simultaneously. We thus propose an iterative solution in two steps. 1) We solve for the first order derivatives assuming that the second order derivatives are known. We initialise the second order derivatives to zero, which is an infinitesimal planarity assumption. We derive a system of two cubics in two variables for each image pair. The sum-of-squares of these polynomials is independent of the number of images and can be solved globally, forming a well-posed problem for <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N\geq 3$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="parashar-ieq1-2760301.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> images. 2) We solve for the second order derivatives by initialising the first order derivatives from the previous step. We solve a linear system of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4N-4$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="parashar-ieq2-2760301.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> equations in three variables. We iterate until the first order derivatives converge. The solution for the first order derivatives gives the surfaces’ normal fields which we integrate to recover the 3D surfaces. The proposed method outperforms existing work in terms of accuracy and computation cost on synthetic and real datasets.
Smooth bundling of large streaming and sequence graphs

Dynamic graphs are increasingly pervasive in modern information systems. However, understanding how a graph changes in time is difficult. We present here two techniques for simplified visualization of dynamic graphs using edge bundles. The first technique uses a recent image-based graph bundling method to create smoothly changing bundles from streaming graphs. The second technique incorporates additional edge-correspondence data and is thereby suited to visualize discrete graph sequences. We illustrate our methods with examples from real-world large dynamic graph datasets.
Activation of the PKC Pathway Stimulates Ovarian Cancer Cell Proliferation, Migration, and Expression of MMP7 and MMP101

ABSTRACT Postmenopausal women are at a higher risk of ovarian cancer due, in part, to increased levels of gonadotropins such as luteinizing hormone (LH). Gonadotropins and other stimuli are capable of activating two pathways, PKA and PKC, that are altered in ovarian cancer. To determine the role of LH on ovarian cancer, we explored the effects of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), an LH mimic, and an activator of the PKC pathway, phorbol-12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), on ovarian cancer cell-cycle kinetics and apoptosis in Ovcar3 cells. PMA treatment increased cells in the S phase of the cell cycle and initially increased apoptosis after 4 h before diminishing apoptosis after 8 h. Treatment of ovarian cancer cells with hCG had no effect on these parameters. The PKC pathway is known to differentially regulate matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression. Results showed that ovarian cancer cells treated with PMA increased MMP7 and MMP10 mRNA levels after 8 h of treatment, and expression remained high after 12 h before decreasing at 24 h. The mRNA expression of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (BSG), an activator of MMPs, was unaffected by PMA. Due to the role that MMPs play in migration, we investigated the effect of PMA activation of MMPs on ovarian cancer cell migration. The use of the MMP inhibitor GM6001 blocked the increased migratory effects of PMA on ovarian cancer cells. Together, these studies show that activating the PKC pathway causes significant changes in cell cycle kinetics and selective expression of MMPs that are involved in enhancing ovarian cancer cell proliferation and migration.
Enhancing Business Process modelling for e-Government processes using semantic web technologies and Linked Data principles

Semantic Web technologies are being applied more and more in business context applications. The domain of Business Process Management (BPM) is no exception. Additionally, Linked Data principles become interesting to apply in this context as well to enrich processes with information from more diverse sources. We aim to apply Semantic Web technologies and Linked Data principles to enhance Business Process modelling of Swiss e-Government public processes. To favour the reuse of processes from a process repository, the modelling tool will assist the user while modelling through auto completion, process translation, decomposition and annotation. Annotations on processes will allow linking those processes to ontology concepts related to the cyber administration standards. This paper will focus on translating processes to Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the creation of the data links, as well as process translation from German to French.
HISTOCHEMICAL METHODS FOR CALCIUM

An account is given of an investigation of histochemical methods for calcium using standard test tissues (McGee-Russell, 1957) known to contain calcium salts, as test objects upon which to assess the success, reproducibility, and mutual consistency of methods. The methods for the revelation of calcium in the literature fall into two groups: metal substitution techniques, and dye-lake reactions. Published methods have been tested and many have been found of little use for cytological investigations. A set of six metal substitution techniques, including a new copper dithioxamide method, has been established as giving useful results. The empirical basis of the staining reactions for calcium with dyestuffs has been investigated, and sensitive and specific techniques using anthraquinone derivatives are outlined. The significance of pH in dye-lake reactions is emphasized, and it is pointed out that previous results with anthraquinone dyestuffs have been achieved by an empirical adjustment of pH in the staining solution. The necessity of making a distinction between the formation of a dye-lake precipitate as a true histochemical positive, and staining effects which may occur upon tissue components in the neighborhood of calcium deposits, through the interaction of the dye, the dye-lake, the calcium salt, and the matrix, is stressed. An oxazin dyestuff, gallamine blue, recently introduced for the staining of calcium deposits, was found to be inconsistent in its results, and capable of giving misleading information. Its general use is not recommended. The possibility of studying calcium deposits by means of the presence of contaminating metals is considered. The reagent sodium rhodizonate was found to give very fine localization of known calcium deposits in a number of tissues.
Evaluation of seven drug metabolisms and clearances by cryopreserved human primary hepatocytes cultivated in microfluidic biochips

We present characterization of the metabolic performance of human cryopreserved hepatocytes cultivated in a platform of parallelized microfluidic biochips. The RTqPCR analysis revealed that the mRNA levels of the cytochromes P450 (CYP 1A2, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, 3A4) were reduced after the adhesion period (when compared to the post-thawing step). The microfluidic perfusion played a part in stabilizing and partially recovering the levels of the HNF4α, PXR, OAPT2, CYP 1A2, 2B6, 2C19 and 3A4 mRNA on contrary to non-perfused cultures. Fluorescein diacetate staining and P-gp mRNA level illustrated the hepatocytes’ polarity in the biochips. Drug metabolism was assessed using midazolam, tolbutamide, caffeine, omeprazole, dextromethorphan, acetaminophen and repaglinide as probes. Metabolite detection and quantification revealed that CYP1A2 (via the detection of paraxanthine), CYP3A4 (via 1-OH-midazolam, and omeprazole sulfone detection), CYP2C8 (via hydroxyl-repaglinide detection), CYP2C19 (via hydroxy-omeprazole detection) and CYP2D6 (via dextrorphan detection) were functional in our microfluidic configurations. Furthermore, the RTqPCR analysis showed that the drugs acted as inductors leading to overexpression of mRNA levels when compared to post-thawing values (such as for HNF4α, PXR and CYP3A4 by dextromethorpahn and omeprazole). Finally, intrinsic in vitro biochip clearances were extracted using a PBPK model for predictions. The biochip predictions were compared to literature in vitro data and in vivo situations.
Accurate and Reliable Human Localization Using Composite Particle/FIR Filtering

The particle filter (PF) is a popular filtering algorithm in various localization problems represented by nonlinear state-space models. Although the PF can provide accurate localization results, it often fails in localization because of the sample impoverishment phenomenon. In this paper, we propose a novel nonlinear filtering method that combines a PF with a robust filter, called a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, in order to accomplish accurate and reliable localization. The proposed filter is called the composite particle/FIR filter (CPFF). In the CPFF framework, the PF is the main filter used in normal situations. When PF failures occur, the FIR filter is used to recover the PF from failures. To detect PF failures, a new decision-making algorithm is proposed in this paper. The proposed CPFF is applied to indoor human localization using a wireless sensor network. The CPFF is accurate and reliable under conditions in which the pure PF typically exhibits degraded accuracy or failures in localization.
Heterologous Complementation of a Rieske Iron-Sulfur Protein-deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the Rip1 Gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe*

A cDNA carrying the Rip1 gene, which encodes the Rieske iron-sulfur protein of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, has been cloned by complementing the respiratory deficiency of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain in which the endogenous copy of the RIP1 gene has been deleted. The deduced amino acid sequences of the S. pombe and S. cerevisiae iron-sulfur proteins are 50% identical, with the highest region of identity being in the C termini of the proteins, where the 2Fe:2S cluster is bound. When expressed in the S. cerevisiae deletion strain, the S. pombe iron-sulfur protein restores 25–30% of the ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase activity. The kinetics of cytochrome c reduction, the effects of inhibitors which act at defined sites in the cytochrome bc1 complex, and the optical properties of cytochrome b in membranes from the S. cerevisiae deletion strain complemented with S. pombe iron-sulfur protein indicate that the S. pombe protein interacts with cytochrome b to restore an apparently normal ubiquinol oxidase site, but that interaction between the iron-sulfur protein and cytochrome c1 is partially impaired. This is the first heterologous replacement of an electron transfer protein in a respiratory enzyme complex in S. cerevisiae.
Functional Decomposition Using Principal Subfields

Let f ∈ K(t) be a univariate rational function. It is well known that any non-trivial decomposition д ◦ h, with д,h ∈ K(t), corresponds to a non-trivial subfield K(f (t)) ⊊ L ⊊ K(t) and viceversa. In this paper we use the idea of principal subfields and fast subfield-intersection techniques to compute the subfield lattice of K(t)/K(f (t)). This yields a Las Vegas type algorithmwith improved complexity and better run times for finding all non-equivalent complete decompositions of f .
The MFFAPP Tanzania Efficacy Study Protocol: Newly Formulated, Extruded, Fortified Blended Foods for Food Aid

Abstract Fortified blended foods (FBFs) are micronutrient-fortified blends of milled cereals and pulses that represent the most commonly distributed micronutrient-fortified food aid. FBFs have been criticized due to lack of efficacy in treating undernutrition, and it has also been suggested that alternative commodities, such as sorghum and cowpea, be investigated instead of corn and soybean. The Micronutrient Fortified Food Aid Pilot Project (MFFAPP) Tanzania efficacy study was the culmination of economic, processing, sensory, and nutrition FBF research and development. MFFAPP Tanzania was a 20-wk, partially randomized cluster design conducted between February and July 2016 that enrolled children aged 6–53 mo in the Mara region of Tanzania with weight-for-height z scores >−3 and hemoglobin concentrations <10.3 mg/dL. The intervention was complementary feeding of newly formulated, extruded FBFs (white sorghum cowpea variety 1, white sorghum-cowpea variety 2, red sorghum-cowpea, white sorghum-soy blend, and corn-soy blend 14) compared with Corn Soy Blend Plus (CSB+), a current US Agency for International Development–distributed corn-soy blend, and a no-FBF-receiving control. Screened participants (n = 2050) were stratified by age group (6–23 and 24–53 mo) and allocated to 1 of 7 FBF clusters provided biweekly. Biochemical and anthropometric data were measured every 10 wk at weeks 0, 10, and 20. The primary objectives of this study were to determine whether newly formulated, extruded corn-, soy-, sorghum-, and cowpea-based FBFs result in equivalent vitamin A or iron outcomes compared with CSB+. Changes in anthropometric outcomes were also examined. Results from the MFFAPP Tanzania Efficacy Study will inform food aid producers and distributers about whether extruded sorghum- and cowpea-based FBFs are viable options for improving the health of the undernourished. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02847962.
The utility of the Mini-mental State Examination in guiding assessment of capacity to consent to research

ABSTRACT Background: Previous studies have found the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) predictive of capacity to consent to power of attorney and to enter into residential care. We aimed to assess the utility of the MMSE in predicting capacity to consent to research in elderly U.K. care home residents, to determine the optimal cut-point score, and to ascertain which items of the MMSE most predicted capacity. Methods: Care home residents (n = 227) who had been recruited into a randomized controlled trial and assessed for capacity to consent were subsequently administered the MMSE and a measure of depression. A receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was generated and the maximal MMSE cut-point that best predicted capacity status determined. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the effect of other variables on capacity status. Results: The area under the ROC curve was 0.86 (p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.80–0.91). The optimal cut-point was 13/14, which provided a positive predictive value of 0.84 (0.79–0.89) and negative predictive value of 0.69 (0.62–0.75). The odds ratio of a MMSE score ≥14 predicting having capacity was 11.95 (6.03–23.94). Depression reduced the odds of having capacity (OR 0.32, 0.17–0.62, p = 0.001). All individual items of the MMSE apart from following a written command (“close your eyes”) had odds ratios significantly associated with capacity status. The item most associated with capacity status was being able to verbally repeat a sentence (“no ifs, ands, or buts”) correctly (OR 5.6, 95% CI 3.0–10.5). Conclusions: The MMSE is predictive of capacity to consent to research and may have a role in guiding researchers in this domain. It should not, however, be used in lieu of a formal capacity assessment as even the optimal cut-point of 13/14 mislabeled 24% of capable subjects as lacking capacity, and 21% of incapable subjects as having capacity.
Chest physiotherapy with positive expiratory pressure breathing after abdominal and thoracic surgery: a systematic review

A variety of chest physiotherapy techniques are used following abdominal and thoracic surgery to prevent or reduce post‐operative complications. Breathing techniques with a positive expiratory pressure (PEP) are used to increase airway pressure and improve pulmonary function. No systematic review of the effects of PEP in surgery patients has been performed previously. The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the effect of PEP breathing after an open upper abdominal or thoracic surgery. A literature search of randomised‐controlled trials (RCT) was performed in five databases. The trials included were systematically reviewed by two independent observers and critically assessed for methodological quality. We selected six RCT evaluating the PEP technique performed with a mechanical device in spontaneously breathing adult patients after abdominal or thoracic surgery via thoracotomy. The methodological quality score varied between 4 and 6 on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database score. The studies were published between 1979 and 1993. Only one of the included trials showed any positive effects of PEP compared to other breathing techniques. Today, there is scarce scientific evidence that PEP treatment is better than other physiotherapy breathing techniques in patients undergoing abdominal or thoracic surgery. There is a lack of studies investigating the effect of PEP over placebo or no physiotherapy treatment.
A snapshot of U.S. physicians: key findings from the 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey.

This Data Bulletin presents findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey, a nationally representative mail survey of U.S. physicians providing at least 20 hours per week of direct patient care. The sample of physicians was drawn from the American Medical Association master file and included active, nonfederal, office- and hospital-based physicians. Residents and fellows were excluded, as well as radiologists, anesthesiologists and pathologists. The survey includes responses from more than 4,700 physicians, and the response rate was 62 percent. Estimates from this survey should not be compared to estimates from HSC's previous Community Tracking Study (CTS) Physician Surveys because of changes in the survey administration mode from telephone to mail, question wording, skip patterns, sample structure and population represented. More detailed information on survey content and methodology can be found at www.hschange. org.
Research of QoS routing technology for wireless multimedia sensor network

The QoS problem of Wireless multimedia sensor networks, due to its distinctive features such as large amount of data transmission of audio, video, and images, becomes a hot research recently. In this paper, QoS parameters are discussed, and give the packet types and common definition of QoS parameters, describe the progress of QoS routing protocols for WMSNs, and QoS routing algorithms for WMSNs. Some typical algorithms are described in details. Finally, the challenges for QoS routing for WMSNs are pointed out.