Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Multi-level Communication: Minimal Deadlock-Free and Storage Efficient Routing for Torus Networks

In this paper, we recall the methodology, proposed in [7], for constructing correct and efficient routing strategies for distributed memory multicomputers. As the methodology is based on a primary communication scheme, we choose routing by Eulerian cycle rules [9] as the primary one. We first propose an improvement of this latter routing scheme. Then, we apply the general routing strategy to the torus network. We give a detailed proof of a result for this network. From this proof, we deduce a new static, deadlock-free and minimal algorithm which uses an optimal memory space and a cycle free dependency graph.
BlueInfo: Open Architecture for Deploying Web Services in WPAN Hotspots

We introduce BlueInfo, an open architecture for deploying web services in WPAN hotspots for cost-free context-aware mobile access over Bluetooth. A BlueInfo hotspot either pushes subscribed services at desired intervals to registered devices (BlueInfo Push) or alternatively the user invokes a particular service by sending a simple keyword query to the hotspot (BlueInfo Pull). The BlueInfo hotspot requests the service from the origin server in the Internet and relays the response to the mobile device, possibly after adaptation for mobile viewing. The usability of BlueInfo Pull in comparison to a mobile phone browser is demonstrated with an empirical user evaluation conducted in a laboratory setting.
Supporting the Module Sequencing Decision in the ERP Implementation Process

An important part of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation process is the decision, which modules are implemented and in which order. We posit that the decision of the module sequencing involves a myriad of issues, such as, investment costs and risks, key business requirements and solution constraints. We develop and test an ANP (Analytic Network Process) model to support the sequencing decision. Through the ANP analysis a preferred module implementation sequence is achieved in the case company. Moreover, the practical applicability of the method is discussed in the paper.
A Study of Native XML Databases - Document Update, Querying, Access Control and Application Programming Interfaces in Native XML Databases

Native XML databases (NXD) are called to play a crucial role in the near future. The experience with relational databases shows that standard methods for accessing and manipulating databases are necessary if wide acceptance of these database systems is to be expected in information systems whose applications should access databases preferably through standard APIs. In this paper, the current state of APIs that provide standard access to NXD, standard query languages and standard methods for document update and access control are analyzed from the perspective acquired with our experience using NXD in information systems. Our conclusions show the weak points which still need to be improved as compared with relational databases.
E-Gesture: a collaborative architecture for energy-efficient gesture recognition with hand-worn sensor and mobile devices

Gesture is a promising mobile User Interface modality that enables eyes-free interaction without stopping or impeding movement. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of E-Gesture, an energy-efficient gesture recognition system using a hand-worn sensor device and a smartphone. E-gesture employs a novel gesture recognition architecture carefully crafted by studying sporadic occurrence patterns of gestures in continuous sensor data streams and analyzing the energy consumption characteristics of both sensors and smartphones. We developed a closed-loop collaborative segmentation architecture, that can (1) be implemented in resource-scarce sensor devices, (2) adaptively turn off power-hungry motion sensors without compromising recognition accuracy, and (3) reduce false segmentations generated from dynamic changes of body movement. We also developed a mobile gesture classification architecture for smartphones that enables HMM-based classification models to better fit multiple mobility situations.
Is the Oxidative DNA Damage Level of Human Lymphocyte Correlated with the Antioxidant Capacity of Serum or the Base Excision Repair Activity of Lymphocyte?

A random screening of human blood samples from 24 individuals of nonsmoker was conducted to examine the correlation between the oxidative DNA damage level of lymphocytes and the antioxidant capacity of serum or the base excision repair (BER) activity of lymphocytes. The oxidative DNA damage level was measured with comet assay containing Fpg/Endo III cleavage, and the BER activity was estimated with a modified comet assay including nuclear extract of lymphocytes for enzymatic cleavage. Antioxidant capacity was determined with trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay. We found that though the endogenous DNA oxidation levels varied among the individuals, each individual level appeared to be steady for at least 1 month. Our results indicate that the oxidative DNA damage level is insignificantly or weakly correlated with antioxidant capacity or BER activity, respectively. However, lymphocytes from carriers of Helicobacter pylori (HP) or Hepatitis B virus (HBV) tend to give higher levels of oxidative DNA damage (P < 0.05). Though sera of this group of individuals show no particular tendency with reduced antioxidant capacity, the respective BER activities of lymphocytes are lower in average (P < 0.05). Thus, reduction of repair activity may be associated with the genotoxic effect of HP or HBV infection.
Reactoon: Storytelling in a Tangible Environment

Storytelling is an essential activity in the life of children. By listening or sharing their stories and ideas they give meaning to their world and practice their communication skills. Even though today computers are already present in a child's world, there is a difference between software programs developed for them and specific programs that allow them to express themselves. This paper presents the Reactoon System: an authoring tool for building 2D animations for a tabletop with tangible user interface and multi-touch screen.
Health Mashups: Presenting Statistical Patterns between Wellbeing Data and Context in Natural Language to Promote Behavior Change

People now have access to many sources of data about their health and wellbeing. Yet, most people cannot wade through all of this data to answer basic questions about their long-term wellbeing: Do I gain weight when I have busy days? Do I walk more when I work in the city? Do I sleep better on nights after I work out? We built the Health Mashups system to identify connections that are significant over time between weight, sleep, step count, calendar data, location, weather, pain, food intake, and mood. These significant observations are displayed in a mobile application using natural language, for example, “You are happier on days when you sleep more. ” We performed a pilot study, made improvements to the system, and then conducted a 90-day trial with 60 diverse participants, learning that interactions between wellbeing and context are highly individual and that our system supported an increased self-understanding that lead to focused behavior changes.
Electrophysiological characterization of male goldfish (Carassius auratus) ventral preoptic area neurons receiving olfactory inputs

Chemical communication via sex pheromones is critical for successful reproduction but the underlying neural mechanisms are not well-understood. The goldfish is a tractable model because sex pheromones have been well-characterized in this species. We used male goldfish forebrain explants in vitro and performed whole-cell current clamp recordings from single neurons in the ventral preoptic area (vPOA) to characterize their membrane properties and synaptic inputs from the olfactory bulbs (OB). Principle component and cluster analyses based on intrinsic membrane properties of vPOA neurons (N = 107) revealed five (I–V) distinct cell groups. These cells displayed differences in their input resistance (Rinput: I < II < IV < III = V), time constant (TC: I = II < IV < III = V), and threshold current (Ithreshold: I > II = IV > III = V). Evidence from electrical stimulation of the OB and application of receptor antagonists suggests that vPOA neurons receive monosynaptic glutamatergic inputs via the medial olfactory tract, with connectivity varying among neuronal groups [I (24%), II (40%), III (0%), IV (34%), and V (2%)].
Investigación-acción sobre un programa de aprendizaje-servicio en la didáctica de la educación física

Introduction: This article shows an action-research conducted on a service-learning program in Physical Education Didactics. The work is based on the results of multiple previous research and aims to improve the service-learning program to promote the development of social skills and attitudes on future teachers. To achieve a framework of broad and comprehensive understanding of the intervention program we used a mixed research method. Method: firstly,the content of interviews and daily monitoring diaries of students were analyzed and, secondly, it was implemented a quasi-experimental design with three nonequivalent groups. We used t tests for the comparison pretest-posttest of each group, and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the comparison post-test. Results: the quantitative study shows that, unlike the control group, both experimental groups improved their social skills and attitudes after de service-learning program. Discussion: the qualitative study helped to complement and enhance the understanding about the effects of the program to refine the skills and attitudes achieved. The three categories obtained were: group consciousness, implication and group organization skills and communication skills. Conclusions: it was concluded that it may be necessary to improve the model of reflection and deliberation inherent in the program, thus establishing the basis for a new plan.
Deep Submodular Functions : Definitions & Learning

We propose and study a new class of submodular functions called deep submodular functions (DSFs). We define DSFs and situate them within the broader context of classes of submodular functions in relationship both to various matroid ranks and sums of concave composed with modular functions (SCMs). Notably, we find that DSFs constitute a strictly broader class than SCMs, thus motivating their use, but that they do not comprise all submodular functions. Interestingly, some DSFs can be seen as special cases of certain deep neural networks (DNNs), hence the name. Finally, we provide a method to learn DSFs in a max-margin framework, and offer preliminary results applying this both to synthetic and real-world data instances.
Malware classification method via binary content comparison

With the wide spread uses of the Internet, the number of Internet attacks keeps increasing, and malware is the main cause of most Internet attacks. Malware is used by attackers to infect normal users' computers and to acquire private information as well as to attack other machines. The number of new malware and variants of malware is increasing every year because the automated tools allow attackers to generate the new malware or their variants easily. Therefore, performance improvement of the malware analysis is critical to prevent malware from spreading rapidly and to mitigate damages to users. In this paper, we proposed a new malware classification method by analyzing similarities of malware. Our method analyzes a small part of malware to reduce analysis overheads, and experimental results showed that our approach can effectively classify malware families.
Adiponectin Modulates Oxidative Stress-Induced Autophagy in Cardiomyocytes

Diastolic heart failure (HF) i.e., “HF with preserved ejection fraction” (HF-preserved EF) accounts for up to 50% of all HF presentations; however there have been no therapeutic advances. This stems in part from an incomplete understanding about HF-preserved EF. Hypertension is the major cause of HF-preserved EF whilst HF-preserved EF is also highly associated with obesity. Similarly, excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), i.e., oxidative stress occurs in hypertension and obesity, sensitizing the heart to the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, inducing autophagic type-II programmed cell death and accelerating the propensity to adverse cardiac remodeling, diastolic dysfunction and HF. Adiponectin (APN), an adipokine, mediates cardioprotective actions but it is unknown if APN modulates cardiomyocyte autophagy. We tested the hypothesis that APN ameliorates oxidative stress-induced autophagy in cardiomyocytes. Isolated adult rat ventricular myocytes were pretreated with recombinant APN (30µg/mL) followed by 1mM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) exposure. Wild type (WT) and APN-deficient (APN-KO) mice were infused with angiotensin (Ang)-II (3.2mg/kg/d) for 14 days to induced oxidative stress. Autophagy-related proteins, mTOR, AMPK and ERK expression were measured. H2O2 induced LC3I to LC3II conversion by a factor of 3.4±1.0 which was abrogated by pre-treatment with APN by 44.5±10%. However, neither H2O2 nor APN affected ATG5, ATG7, or Beclin-1 expression. H2O2 increased phospho-AMPK by 49±6.0%, whilst pretreatment with APN decreased phospho-AMPK by 26±4%. H2O2 decreased phospho-mTOR by 36±13%, which was restored by APN. ERK inhibition demonstrated that the ERK-mTOR pathway is involved in H2O2-induced autophagy. Chronic Ang-II infusion significantly increased myocardial LC3II/I protein expression ratio in APN-KO vs. WT mice. These data suggest that excessive ROS caused cardiomyocyte autophagy which was ameliorated by APN by inhibiting an H2O2-induced AMPK/mTOR/ERK-dependent mechanism. These findings demonstrate the anti-oxidant potential of APN in oxidative stress-associated cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension-induced HF-preserved EF.
Using the forced oscillation technique to evaluate bronchodilator response in healthy volunteers and in asthma patients presenting a verified positive response.

OBJECTIVE To use the forced oscillation technique to evaluate asthma patients presenting positive bronchodilator responses (confirmed through spirometry) and compare the results with those obtained in healthy individuals. METHODS The study sample consisted of 53 non-smoking volunteers: 24 healthy subjects with no history of pulmonary disease and 29 asthmatics presenting positive bronchodilator response, as determined through analysis of spirometry findings. All of the subjects were submitted to forced oscillation technique and spirometry immediately before and 20 minutes after the administration of salbutamol spray (300 g). The parameters derived from the forced oscillation technique were total respiratory resistance, total respiratory reactance, resistance extrapolated to the y axis, the slope of resistance, and dynamic compliance. The parameters measured in the spirometry evaluation tests were forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity. RESULTS In the control group, bronchodilator use produced a significant alteration in the resistance extrapolated to the y axis (p < 0.001), although no significant differences were observed in the slope of resistance or in dynamic compliance. Analysis of the asthma patients revealed significant differences between the prebronchodilator and postbronchodilator values for all spirometry and forced oscillation technique parameters. Values of p < 0.001 were obtained for all comparisons between the two groups. CONCLUSION The modifications provoked by use of the forced oscillation technique were in direct concordance with the pathophysiology of the bronchodilator response in asthma patients, indicating that the forced oscillation technique could be useful as a complement to spirometry in these patients.
Equilibrium-Based Support Vector Machine for Semisupervised Classification

A novel learning algorithm for semisupervised classification is proposed. The proposed method first constructs a support function that estimates a support of a data distribution using both labeled and unlabeled data. Then, it partitions a whole data space into a small number of disjoint regions with the aid of a dynamical system. Finally, it labels the decomposed regions utilizing the labeled data and the cluster structure described by the constructed support function. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method to label out-of-sample unlabeled test data as well as in-sample unlabeled data
Calcineurin Negatively Regulates TLR-Mediated Activation Pathways1

In innate immunity, microbial components stimulate macrophages to produce antimicrobial substances, cytokines, other proinflammatory mediators, and IFNs via TLRs, which trigger signaling pathways activating NF-κB, MAPKs, and IFN response factors. We show in this study that, in contrast to its activating role in T cells, in macrophages the protein phosphatase calcineurin negatively regulates NF-κB, MAPKs, and IFN response factor activation by inhibiting the TLR-mediated signaling pathways. Evidence for this novel role for calcineurin was provided by the findings that these signaling pathways are activated when calcineurin is inhibited either by the inhibitors cyclosporin A or FK506 or by small interfering RNA-targeting calcineurin, and that activation of these pathways by TLR ligands is inhibited by the overexpression of a constitutively active form of calcineurin. We further found that IκB-α degradation, MAPK activation, and TNF-α production by FK506 were reduced in macrophages from mice deficient in MyD88, Toll/IL-1R domain-containing adaptor-inducing IFN-β (TRIF), TLR2, or TLR4, whereas macrophages from TLR3-deficient or TLR9 mutant mice showed the same responses to FK506 as those of wild-type cells. Biochemical studies indicate that calcineurin interacts with MyD88, TRIF, TLR2, and TLR4, but not with TLR3 or TLR9. Collectively, these results suggest that calcineurin negatively regulates TLR-mediated activation pathways in macrophages by inhibiting the adaptor proteins MyD88 and TRIF, and a subset of TLRs.
HEALTHY LIFESTYLES OF ADULTS IN A WORK SETTING

Nurses have a key role in promoting healthy lifestyles to reduce incidence of disease in adults. Since the 1980’s, researchers have recognized readiness as a key component of adopting healthy lifestyle change. Prochaska’s transtheoretical model, which contains readiness, or stage of change, served as the theoretical framework for the current study. The purpose of this study was to test an exercise behavior model, and in so doing: (a) compare the concurrence rates of exercise stage of change classifications obtained from the four selected exercise stage of change self-report measures; and (b) determine the relative strength of the predictive factors of exercise stage of change and of exercise performance, in healthy adults in a work setting. This correlational study used a one-group design. Ninety-five subjects, aged 19 to 62, completed six questionnaires and two structured interviews about healthy lifestyles. The first stage of change, precontemplation, was not used in data analysis due to few subjects classified in this stage. Agreement of stage classification by four measures of exercise stage of change was determined, with most agreement found between five answer choice and ladder (k = 0.82, p < .01), and between ladder and the structured interview (k = 0.86, p < .01). Using multinomial logistic regression, exercise self-efficacy (p = .003) and behavioral processes of change (p = .005) were significant predictors of stage classification. Differences in mean exercise performance across the stages were found, with exercise performance significantly (p < .05) lower in contemplation than in maintenance. Using multiple regression, exercise self-efficacy was the strongest positive Astroth, Kim, 2006, UMSL, p.3 predictor of exercise performance (β = .39, p < .01), followed by behavioral processes of change (β = .30, p = .021). Decisional balance pros was a significant negative predictor of exercise performance (β = -.22, p = .031). No significant relationships were found between demographic variables, and exercise stage of change or exercise performance. The results from this study may help to identify accurate measures which enable more correct classification of an individual’s exercise stage of change. Revisions to enhance clarity of wording and directions and further testing of selected instruments are recommended. Astroth, Kim, 2006, UMSL, p.4
Visualizing the Repeat Structure of Genomic Sequences

Repeats are a common feature of genomic sequences and much remains to be understood of their origin and structure. The identification of repeated strings in genomic sequences is therefore of importance for a variety of applications in biology. In this paper a new method for finding all repeats and visualising them in a two dimensional plot is presented. The method is first applied to a set of constructed sequences in order to develop a comparative framework. Several complete genomes are then analysed, including the whole human genome. The technique reveals the complex repeat structure of genomic sequences. In particular, interesting differences in the repeat character of the coding and non-coding regions of bacterial genomes are noted. The method allows fast identification of all repeats and easy intergenome comparison. In doing this the plot effectively creates a signature of a sequence which allows some classes of repeat present in a sequence to be identified by simple visual inspection. To our knowledge this is the first time all exact repeats have been visualised in a single plot that highlights the degree to which repeats occur within a genomic sequence, giving an indication of the important role repeats play. From this it is clear that large scale repeat analysis remains an important and unsolved problem in Bioinformatics.
Environmental Exposure to Triclosan and Semen Quality

Triclosan (2,4,4′-trichloro-2′-hydroxy-diphenyl ether, TCS) is widely used in personal care, household, veterinary and industrial products. It was considered as a potential male reproductive toxicant in previous in vitro and in vivo studies. However, evidence from human studies is scarce. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between TCS exposure and semen quality. We measured urinary TCS concentrations in 471 men recruited from a male reproductive health clinic. TCS was detected in 96.7% of urine samples, with a median concentration of 0.97 ng (mg·creatinine)−1 (interquartile range, 0.41–2.95 ng (mg·creatinine)−1). A multiple linear regression analysis showed a negative association between natural logarithm (Ln) transformed TCS concentration (Ln-TCS) and Ln transformed number of forward moving sperms (adjusted coefficient β = −0.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) (−0.32, −0.02). Furthermore, among those with the lowest tertile of TCS level, Ln-TCS was negatively associated with the number of forward moving sperms (β = −0.35; 95% CI (−0.68, −0.03)), percentage of sperms with normal morphology (β = −1.64; 95% CI (−3.05, −0.23)), as well as number of normal morphological sperms, sperm concentration and count. Our findings suggest that the adverse effect of TCS on semen quality is modest at the environment-relevant dose in humans. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.