Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Open Source Advertisement System

A new online advertisement system and its implementation for the Yioop open source search engine are presented. This system supports both selling advertisements and displaying them within search results. The selling of advertisements is done using a novel system to auction off daily impressions for keyword searches. This is an open, ascending price auction system in which all accepted bids will receive a fraction of the auctioned day’s impressions. New bids in our system are required to be at least one half of the sum of all previous bids ensuring the number of accepted bids is logarithmic in the total ad spend on a keyword for a day. The mechanics of creating an advertisement, attaching keywords to it, and adding it to an advertisement inventory are described. The algorithm used to go from accepted bids for a keyword to which ads are displayed at search time is also presented. We discuss properties of our system and compare it to existing auction systems and systems for selling online advertisements.
Bus Arrival Time Prediction Using Support Vector Machines

Effective prediction of bus arrival time is central to many advanced traveler information systems. This article presents support vector machines (SVM), a new neural network algorithm, to predict bus arrival time. The objective of this paper is to examine the feasibility and applicability of SVM in vehicle travel time forecasting area. Segment, the travel time of current segment, and the latest travel time of next segment are taken as three input features. Bus arrival time predicted by the SVM is assessed with the data of transit route number 4 in Dalian economic and technological development zone in China and conclusions are drawn.
Inverse kinematics for a redundant robotic manipulator used for nuclear decommissioning

The article develops a generic framework for the control of a dual-manipulator mobile robotic system for nuclear decommissioning, with a particular focus on the inverse kinematics and trajectory planning. A six Degrees-Of-Freedom (DOF) kinematic model for each manipulator is described, including the rotation of the end-effector. On this basis, the forward kinematic equations are relatively straightforward to determine. However, the redundant nature of the manipulator and its particular geometry exclude the possibility of a closed-form analytic solution to the inverse kinematics. Hence, previous studies into advanced automatic control using the device have locked off selected control valves. For example, recent research into nonlinear, state-dependent control systems for the hydraulic actuators have been limited to just three DOF. By contrast, this new study considers all the joints of each manipulator, basing the resolution of the inverse kinematics on the iterative Jacobian transpose method. Preliminary experimental and simulation results highlight the potential utility of the system by performing standard tasks such as pick and place operations.
Stem cell therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: How far are we from the bench to the bedside?

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by exuberant apoptosis and inadequate regeneration of lung parenchyma cells. Intratracheal alveolar type II epithelial cell instillation alleviates lung inflammation and fibrosis. Resident lung epithelial stem cells, as well as exogenous mesenchymal stem cells, are capable of differentiating into lung epithelial cells and repair the injured lung. It is thus supposed that, either engraftment of exogenous stem cells, or methods facilitating endogenous lung stem cell proliferation, are promising treatments for IPF, a devastating disease. Arrays of cellular and animal studies have shown the potential of stem cells in alleviating experimental lung fibrosis. Moreover, clinical trials have been launched to investigate the potentials of cell-based therapy in IPF patients. We intend to discuss the newest advances on stem cell therapy in pulmonary fibrosis, particularly the advantages, promises, and possible hurdles to pass from the successes in laboratory experiments to the eventual clinical applications.
Energy Optimization at Cloud Data Centre using SDN

Rapid growth and demand for cloud computing technology has led to the creation of large-scale data centres consuming enormous amounts of power. Improving the efficiency of data centres, with a focus on optimization of power consumption and carbon emission, is major research work. The objective of this project is to design and implement a computing technique that improves energy efficiency at the Cloud Data Centre. An algorithmic-based approach is proposed to minimize the energy consumption at the Data Centre. The proposed approach utilizes one of the most promising technologies in the areas of server virtualization research area, namely Software Defined Networking (SDN) using OpenFlow technology. This newly emerging technology, not only allows flexible control of network devices, but also brings a new opportunity towards DCN energy optimization. Keywords— Cloud Data Centre (CDC), Software Defined Networking (SDN), Energy-efficiency, TCAM,
ACUTE BACTERIAL GASTROENTERITIS AS HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTION IN PEDIATRICS

Gastroenteritis as hospital-acquired infection represents one of the most important issue to be managed in pediatric units. Material and methods: The descriptive study was conducted on a group of 536 cases with bacterial gastroenteritis as healthcare associated infections (HAIs), admitted in „Sf. Maria” Children's Emergency Hospital, Iasi, during 2013-2016. Results: Distribution according to pathogens detected by specific investigations showed that Campylobacter (69.77%) was involved in most cases of gastroenteritis, followed by those determined by Salmonella (21.45%). Distribution by age group highlighted that children of 0-1-year-old were the most affected and Campylobacter was the most involved pathogen in gastroenteritis of that age group, followed by cases with Salmonella gastroenteritis. Children from 2-6 and 6-11-years age groups were involved in gastroenteritis with Salmonella followed by that with Campylobacter. Children of 12-18-years-old were admitted with gastroenteritis due to Salmonella, then E. coli. Shigella spp. was isolated in 10 cases, and Yersinia spp. in only 3 cases. Conclusions: The issue of gastroenteritis as a hospital-acquired infection remains hereafter the keystone of hospital management, as well as prevention and control strategies.
Dermcidin: a skeletal muscle myokine modulating cardiomyocyte survival and infarct size after coronary artery ligation.

AIMS Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in western countries, and its association with lower extremity peripheral artery disease (LE-PAD) represents an independent predictor of worse outcome. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are currently unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS To investigate these processes, we used in vitro approaches and several mouse models: (i) unilateral limb ischaemia by left common femoral artery ligation [peripheral ischaemia (PI), n = 38]; (ii) myocardial infarction by permanent ligation of the left descending coronary artery (MI, n = 40); (iii) MI after 5 weeks of limb ischaemia (PI + MI, n = 44); (iv) sham operation (SHAM, n = 20). Compared with MI, PI + MI hearts were characterized by a significant increase in cardiomyocyte apoptosis, larger infarct areas, and decreased cardiac function. By using a proteomic approach, we identified a ≅ 8 kDa circulating peptide, Dermcidin (DCD), secreted by ischaemic skeletal muscles, enhancing cardiomyocytes apoptosis under hypoxic conditions and infarct size after permanent coronary artery ligation. siRNA interference experiments to reduce DCD circulating levels significantly reduced infarct size and ameliorated cardiac function after MI. CONCLUSION Our data demonstrate that chronic limb ischaemia activates detrimental pathways in the ischaemic heart through humoral mechanisms of remote organ crosstalk. Thus, DCD may represent a novel important myokine modulating cardiomyocyte survival and function.
Clinical epidemiology of Crohn's disease in Arabs based on the Montreal classification

Background: There has been a remarkable increase in the incidence of Crohn's disease (CD) among Arabs in recent years. We conducted this study to determine the clinical epidemiology of CD in Kuwait. Methods: Sociodemographic and clinical information was collected for a continuous series of 206 Arab patients with CD and age at diagnosis and location and behavior of disease was determined according to the Montreal Classification. Results: Among the 206 patients, 100 (48.5%) were males and 106 (51.5%) females. The mean age at diagnosis (±SD) was 21.9 ± 10 years. Family history of CD was reported by 39 (18.9%) patients. The disease was limited to the ileum in 115 (55.8%) patients, whereas in 28 (13.6%) it involved the colon and in 63 (30.6%) it involved both the ileum and colon. The behavior of the disease was nonstricturing, nonpenetrating in 146 (70.9%) patients, whereas 49 (23.8%) had stricturing and 11 (5.3%) penetrating disease. Perianal disease was present in 41 (19.9%) patients. In the multivariate analysis, the use of biologic therapy and duration of the disease for ≥6 years were significantly associated with the presence of perianal disease, and the need for surgery was significantly associated with stricturing and penetrating disease behavior. Conclusions: CD among Arabs is equally common in males and females, presents at a relatively younger age, and in about half of the patients is limited to the small bowel. These features may indicate an underlying genetic predisposition for the disease in this population, which needs further investigation. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2012;)
A new measure of motion picture distortion and its applications to picture quality improvement on AC PDP

Plasma display panels (PDPs) suffer from motion picture distortion (MPD) since they express gray levels by a pulse width modulation technique. This paper proposes a new concept of measuring MPD for each gray level. This concept is very useful in developing methods for reducing MPD. We also present two applications of the measurement. One is the optimum selection of codewords and the other is the gray level selection method. Particularly, the latter method enables us to reduce MPD even with large motion as well as to achieve a natural gray level expression. We further extend the gray level selection method by using histogram information adaptively. Simulation results show that our measurement scheme and applications perform well.
Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria Successfully Treated by Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation

The long-term biochemical and clinical effectiveness of allogenic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) was shown in a severely affected, transfusion-dependent 18-month-old female with congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP), an autosomal recessive inborn error of heme biosynthesis resulting from mutations in the uroporphyrinogen III synthase (URO-synthase) gene. Three years post-BMT, the recipient had normal hemoglobin, markedly reduced urinary porphyrin excretion, and no cutaneous lesions with unlimited exposure to sunlight. The patient was homoallelic for a novel URO-synthase missense mutation, G188R, that expressed less than 5% of mean normal activity in Escherichia coli, consistent with her transfusion dependency. Because the clinical severity of CEP is highly variable, ranging from nonimmune hydrops fetalis to milder, later onset forms with only cutaneous lesions, the importance of genotyping newly diagnosed infants to select severely affected patients for BMT is emphasized. In addition, the long-term effectiveness of BMT in this patient provides the rationale for future hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy in severely affected patients with CEP. r 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.
Use of an Observational Coding System with Families of Adolescents : Psychometric Properties among Pediatric and Healthy Populations

Objective To examine reliability and validity data for the Family Interaction Macro-coding System (FIMS) with adolescents with spina bifida (SB), adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), and healthy adolescents and their families. Methods Sixty-eight families of children with SB, 58 families of adolescents with T1DM, and 68 families in a healthy comparison group completed family interaction tasks and self-report questionnaires. Trained coders rated family interactions using the FIMS. Results Acceptable interrater and scale reliabilities were obtained for FIMS items and subscales. Observed FIMS parental acceptance, parental behavioral control, parental psychological control, family cohesion, and family conflict scores demonstrated convergent validity with conceptually similar self-report measures. Conclusions Preliminary evidence supports the use of the FIMS with families of youths with SB and T1DM and healthy youths. Future research on overall family functioning may be enhanced by use of the FIMS.
Cellular machinery to fuse antimicrobial autophagosome with lysosome

Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation/recycling system that turns over cellular constituents and also functions to degrade intracellular foreign microbial invaders by a process termed xenophagy (antimicrobial autophagy). We previously showed that intracellular group A Streptococcus (GAS) organisms are captured by xenophagosomes, then degraded following fusion with lysosomes. Very recently, we analyzed the molecular mechanism underlying xenophagosome/lysosome fusion and found that endocytic soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) are involved. Knockdown of the combinational SNARE proteins Vti1b and VAMP8 with siRNAs disturbed autophagic fusion with lysosomes, and cellular bactericidal efficiency was significantly diminished. Furthermore, knockdown of those SNAREs inhibited the fusion of canonical autophagosomes with lysosomes. In addition, important findings showed that Vti1b is derived from autophagic compartments, whereas VAMP8 originates from lysosomes. Together, these results strongly suggest that SNARE proteins Vti1b and VAMP8 mediate the fusion of antimicrobial and canonical autophagosomes with lysosomes, an essential event for autophagic degradation.
Improving point registration in dental cephalograms by two-stage rectified point translation transform

Cephalometric analysis requires to detect landmarks on cephalograms. Current registration techniques, such as that use scale-invariant feature descriptor (SIFT), perform poorly on cephalograms. We proposed to improve the registration technique for detecting the landmarks on cephalograms. The results were compared with the landmark identified by dental professionals. Twenty digital cephalograms were collected from a dental clinic. Twenty orthodontic landmarks were identified by dental professionals on each image; one of them was used as a template image. We automatically locate the landmarks using a two stages approach, the global registration of the interest points between two images and a local registration of the landmarks. In the first stage, SIFT was employed to establish point-to-point matching pairs. The matched points on the input image were treated as a set of translation transforms from the original template image. The consistence of the translation was controlled by applying a rectification factor defined in this study. In the second stage, we localized the search within the suspected regions around the landmarks derived by the translations in the first stage. Local registrations were rectified and fine-tuned until the translations close to the identified landmarks were obtained. Our method could detect all the landmarks with error distances less than the 2mm standard set forth by previous researcher. By improving the consistence of the translations, the performance of registration between two images was greatly improved. This method can be used as an initial step to locate the regions around the landmarks for improving detection in the future work.
Antiviral properties of palinavir, a potent inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease

Palinavir is a potent inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2) proteases. Replication of laboratory strains (HIV-1, HIV-2, and simian immunodeficiency virus) and HIV-1 clinical isolates is inhibited by palinavir with 50% effective concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 30 nM. The average cytotoxic concentration of palinavir (35 microM) in the various target cells indicates a favorable therapeutic index. Potent antiviral activity is retained with increased doses of virus and with clinical isolates resistant to zidovudine (AZT), didanosine (ddI), or nevirapine. Combinations of palinavir with either AZT, ddI, or nevirapine demonstrate synergy or additivity in the inhibition of HIV-1 replication. Palinavir retains anti-HIV-1 activity when administered postinfection until times subsequent to the reverse transcription step. In chronically infected CR-10 cells, palinavir blocks Gag precursor polyprotein processing completely, reducing greater than 99% of infectious particle production. The results indicate that the antiviral activity of palinavir is specific to inhibition of the viral protease and occurs at a late stage in the replicative cycle of HIV-1. On the basis of the potent in vitro activity, low-level cytotoxicity, and other data, palinavir was selected for in-depth preclinical evaluation.
Isolation of F' plasmids carrying a portion of the Salmonella typhimurium histidine transport operon

The transposable drug resistance element Tn10 was employed as a region of homology to direct the insertion of Tn10-containing derivatives of F'ts114 lac into the chromosome of a Salmonella typhimurium strain that carries a Tn10 insertion in the histidine transport operon. Based on the direction of transfer of the resulting Hfr strains, the chromosomal Tn10 insertion was determined to be in orientation "A. " New F' plasmids were selectively generated from one of the Hfr strains. The F' factors carry an intact dhuA hisJ portion of the histidine transport operon. A Southern hybridization revealed that one of the F' plasmids was formed by a type II excision event.
Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy for diagnosing and staging carcinoid tumours: correlations with the pathological indexes p53 and Ki-67

We performed this study in order to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of whole-body fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) imaging and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) for localizing primary carcinoid tumours and evaluating the extent of the disease. A secondary aim was to correlate those findings with the histological characteristics of the lesions. FDG PET was performed in 17 patients and SRS in 16. All patients had pathologically proven carcinoids. All lesions were verified by histopathological analysis or by follow-up. Ki-67 and p53 expression were assessed as an indicator of the tumours' aggressiveness. FDG PET correctly identified 4/7 primary tumours and 8/11 metastatic spreads, as compared to six and 10 respectively, for SRS. Most tumours were typical carcinoids with low Ki-67 expression. No correlation was found between the histological features and the tracer's uptake. We conclude that SRS remains the modality of choice for evaluating patients with carcinoid tumours, regardless of their proliferative activity. FDG PET should be reserved to patients with negative results on SRS.
Consideration of parallel data processing over an apache spark cluster

The Spread of cameras and sensors and cloud technologies enable us to obtain life logs at ordinary homes and transmit the captured data to a cloud for life log analysis. However, the amount of processing for video data analysis in a cloud drastically increases when a very large number of homes send data to the cloud. In this research, we aim to improve the efficiency of distributed video data analysis processing by using the parallel deep learning framework Chainer [2] and the distribution processing platform Apache Spark [1] (Spark). In this paper, we construct a Spark cluster and investigate the performance of parallel data processing using Spark varying parameter settings.
Conceptualizing the Knowledge to Manage and Utilize Data Assets in the Context of Digitization: Case Studies of Multinational Industrial Enterprises

The trend of digitization significantly changes the role of data for enterprises. Data turn from an enabler to an intangible organizational asset that requires management and qualifies as a tradeable good. The idea of a networked economy has gained momentum in the data domain as collaborative approaches for data management emerge. Traditional organizational knowledge consequently needs to be extended by comprehensive knowledge about data. The knowledge about data is vital for organizations to ensure that data quality requirements are met and data can be effectively utilized and sovereignly governed. As this specific knowledge has been paid little attention to so far by academics, the aim of the research presented in this paper is to conceptualize it by proposing a “data knowledge model”. Relevant model entities have been identified based on a design science research (DSR) approach that iteratively integrates insights of various industry case studies and literature research. Keywords—Data management, digitization, Industry 4.0, knowledge engineering, metamodel.
Simulation of Hounsfield Units for a Computed Tomography Scanner and Different Phantom Inserts

The calculation of carbon ion range in tissue for use in heavy ion treatment is based on the Hounsfield unit look-up table (HULT) [1]. Assuming that measured HU is correct, the HULT enables fast and reliable translation of HU to water equivalent depth (WED). However, HU values can vary with measurement parameters, such as X-ray voltage and the image reconstruction algorithm. The correlation between these parameters and HU is known only empirically. In this project, we present an approach to simulate HU that takes into consideration the geometry, composition, and physical process behind the measurement of HU values. The approach involves Monte Carlo simulations followed by a simple filtered back-projection reconstruction. The Monte Carlo code used is BEAMnrc/EGSnrc. Simulations of an X-ray tube, including the associated filters and beam shapers of a Siemens Emotion CT, were used to generate the initial beam shape and spectra. We performed a number of further simulations with various phantoms and substitutes. The resultant phase space files were analyzed to calculate the projections, taking into account the energy response of the CT-detectors. Then, a simple reconstruction algorithm (FBP using a Ram-Lak filter) was applied to the calculated projections and finally the data were presented in HU format. The above approach was developed for a Siemens Emotion CT with a DURA352 X-ray tube [2].