Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computation time analysis of a distributed optimization algorithm applied to automated irrigation networks

This paper considers the computation time of two algorithms for solving a structured constrained linear optimal control problem with finite horizon quadratic cost within the context of automated irrigation networks. The first is a standard centralized algorithm based on the interior point method that does not exploit problem structure. The second is distributed and based on a consensus algorithm, not specifically tailored to account for system structure, but devised rather to facilitate the management of conflicting computational and communication overheads. It is shown that there is a significant advantage in terms of computation time in using the second algorithm in large-scale networks. Specifically, for a fixed horizon length the computation time of the centralized algorithm grows as O(n4) with the number n of sub-systems. By contrast, it is observed via a combination of analysis and experiment that the computation time of the distributed algorithm grows as O(n) with the number n of sub-systems.
Systematic review and meta-analysis of the use of quilting to prevent seroma formation after axillary lymphadenectomy

Background: Although there is plentiful evidence favoring the fixation of the skin flaps to the underlying muscles (quilting) to prevent seroma formation after axillary lymph node dissection (ALND), there is a paucity of study concerning its treatment effect. Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrated quilting group did not require significantly more operative time than no-quilting group though more studies were against it. Methods: RCTs comparing quilting with no-quilting for prevention of seroma formation after ALND were searched. Results: Eight prospective RCTs were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with no-quilting group, quilting after ALND significantly decreased seroma rate, total amount of fluid drained and duration of drain placed, but performed no significant difference in the operative time, postoperative complication, assessment of shoulder function and psychological morbidity. Conclusion: The current evidence supports the use of quilting to prevent seroma formation and quilting may be an alternative to closed suction drain after ALND. Quilting did not require additional operative time that was an important obstruct for surgeons to perform dead space closure.
The Drosophila HMG-domain proteins SoxNeuro and Dichaete direct trichome formation via the activation of shavenbaby and the restriction of Wingless pathway activity

Trichomes are cytoplasmic extrusions of epidermal cells. The molecular mechanisms that govern the differentiation of trichome-producing cells are conserved across species as distantly related as mice and flies. Several signaling pathways converge onto the regulation of a conserved target gene, shavenbaby (svb, ovo), which, in turn, stimulates trichome formation. The Drosophila ventral epidermis consists of the segmental alternation of two cell types that produce either naked cuticle or trichomes called denticles. The binary choice to produce naked cuticle or denticles is affected by the transcriptional regulation of svb, which is sufficient to cell-autonomously direct denticle formation. The expression of svb is regulated by the opposing gradients of two signaling molecules - the epidermal growth factor receptor (Egfr) ligand Spitz (Spi), which activates svb expression, and Wingless (Wg), which represses it. It has remained unclear how these opposing signals are integrated to establish a distinct domain of svb expression. We show that the expression of the high mobility group (HMG)-domain protein SoxNeuro (SoxN) is activated by Spi, and repressed by Wg, signaling. SoxN is necessary and sufficient to cell-autonomously direct the expression of svb. The closely related protein Dichaete is co-regulated with SoxN and has a partially redundant function in the activation of svb expression. In addition, we show that SoxN and Dichaete function upstream of Wg and antagonize Wg pathway activity. This suggests that the expression of svb in a discreet domain is resolved at the level of SoxN and Dichaete.
Design of computer brain interface for flight control of unmanned air vehicle using cerebral signals through headset electroencephalograph

This article shows the design and implementation of a Flight Control Interface of a Drone using Electroencephalographic signals. For this purpose, an Emotiv Insight Electroencephalograph Headset and Drone Bepop Parrot are available, which have application development kits and are ideal for integration into Android Studio. With these tools, it is possible to obtain an efficient remote drone management system, validating its operation thanks to a group of users.
2.7 A hybrid supply modulator with 10dB ET operation dynamic range achieving a PAE of 42.6% at 27.0dBm PA output power

Envelope tracking (ET) prolongs the battery life by modulating the supply of a power amplifier (PA) according to the signal envelope. With this emerging technology, the PA efficiency is greatly improved, whereas the supply modulator (SM) itself needs to provide efficient and accurate envelope tracking for the overall performance of the SM-PA combined system (PA module). The ET technique, meanwhile, has seen limited use in high-power transmission due to the reduced SM efficiency for low output power originating from the linear stage in hybrid structures [1].
Murine gammaherpesvirus M2 antigen modulates splenic B cell activation and terminal differentiation in vivo

Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV68) infection of laboratory strains of mice has provided a tractable small animal model for dissecting gammaherpesvirus pathogenesis. The MHV68 latency associated antigen M2 promotes viral latency establishment in germinal center (GC) B cells and plays an important role in virus infection of plasma cells (PCs), which is linked to virus reactivation. More recently, M2 has been highlighted as a potent immunomodulatory molecule capable of hindering both cell-mediated and humoral immunity to MHV68 infection and subsequent challenges. M2 expression in B cells results in activation of B cell receptor signaling pathways that promote proliferation, differentiation, and cytokine production—a hallmark of gammaherpesviruses. In this study, we utilized an adoptive transfer model to explore the biological consequence of M2 expression in activated B cells in vivo. Secondly, we engineered and validated two independent MHV68 M2 reporter viruses that track M2 protein expression in latently infected B cells during infection. Here we demonstrate that upon adoptive transfer into naive mice, M2 expression promotes activated primary B cells to competitively establish residency in the spleen as either a GC B cell or a PC, most notably in the absence of an ongoing GC reaction. Moreover, M2 antigen drives robust PC differentiation and IL10 production in vivo in the absence of other viral factors. Lastly, we confirm that M2 expression during MHV68 infection is localized to the GC compartment, which is a long term latency reservoir for gammaherpesviruses. Overall, these observations are consistent with, and extend upon previous reports of M2 function in B cells and within the context of MHV68 infection. Moreover, this work provides support for a model by which M2-driven dysregulation of B cell function compromises multiple aspects of antiviral immunity to achieve persistence within the infected host.
Complete Genome Sequence of the Nitrogen-Fixing and Rhizosphere-Associated Bacterium Pseudomonas stutzeri Strain DSM4166

ABSTRACT We present here the analysis of the whole-genome sequence of Pseudomonas stutzeri strain DSM4166, a diazotrophic isolate from the rhizosphere of a Sorghum nutans cultivar. To our knowledge, this is the second genome to be sequenced for P. stutzeri. The availability and analysis of the genome provide insight into the evolution of the nitrogen fixation property and identification of rhizosphere competence traits required in interactions with host plants.
On reducing energy consumption as a function of space and time in mobile devices

Due to the restriction in size and weight of the mobile devices the battery capacity will be limited. There exist a number of factors that affect the consumption of battery, in these devices, such as the running apps, hardware resources such as CPU, GPU, display, mobile network, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth radios used by the applications. The non-optimized use of the various system resources will lead to inefficient battery usage in the device. This work studied the average power consumption by the mobile devices as a function of space and time in various scenarios. The variation in power consumption may be contributed by one or more components in different space-time scenarios. One of the main components that causes variation in power consumption is mobile radio. The mobile radio power consumption varies with changes in signal strength and, therefore, energy consumption varies with space and time. The unwanted energy drain in some scenarios can be controlled by carefully identifying spots where high energy consumption can occur and managing the device properly. Based on our study, we propose a classification of the spatio-temporal energy consumption characteristics of the network interface of mobile computing devices into three categories: (i) positively correlated, (ii) negatively correlated, and (iii) neutral, based on the energy consumption and RSSI observations. We identified the scenarios where battery drain becomes high and developed a system to provide alert mechanism that alerts a user to take appropriate actions in such situations so that power can be saved.
High reflectivity high-Q micromechanical Bragg mirror

The authors report on the fabrication and characterization of a micromechanical oscillator consisting only of a freestanding dielectric Bragg mirror with high optical reflectivity and high mechanical quality. The fabrication technique is a hybrid approach involving laser ablation and dry etching. The mirror has a reflectivity of 99.6%, a mass of 400 ng, and a mechanical quality factor Q of approximately 10^4. Using this micromirror in a Fabry-Perot cavity, a finesse of 500 has been achieved. This is an important step towards designing tunable high-Q high-finesse cavities on chip.
Backhaul, QoS, and channel-aware load balancing optimization in SDN-based LTE networks

Future cellular networks utilizes complex network technologies that makes it hard to achieve fine-grained traffic control. Moreover dynamic channel conditions alongwith finite backhaul capacity, limits the desired quality of service (QoS) objectives. This work aims to design a framework for software-defined cellular networks (SDCN) and suggests channel and QoS-aware load balancing procedures that jointly consider both access and back-haul networks. Based on the overall access and backhaul load information we first formulate optimization problems for both QoS and non-QoS users, respectively, considering their specific objectives. Then a realistic algorithm is proposed consisting of users scheduling, load estimation, handover decision, admission, and rate control procedures. To achieve optimal control of backhaul and access network segments in a timely efficient manner, the procedures are envisioned to run in a distributed fashion. Using our system-level SDN-LTE testbed developed in the network simulator (NS3), the proposed system is evaluated and compared with other state-of-the-art cell association algorithms that either consider the fairness in load distribution factor or just maximizes the end user rate while ignoring the load metric.
Immortalized GABAergic Cell Lines Derived from Rat Striatum Using a Temperature-Sensitive Allele of the SV40 Large T Antigen

Embryonic striatal cells were immortalized using the A58 temperature-sensitive allele of the SV40 large T antigen. Two cell lines, M213-2O and M26-1F, with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic properties were selected from 85 clones thus developed. M213-2O is a multipolar, polygonal cell line which expresses SV40 large T antigen and glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) at the permissive temperature (33 degrees C) and GAD and MAP-2 immunoreactivity at the nonpermissive temperature (39.3 degrees C). M26-1F has a fibroblast-like morphology and expresses SV40 large T antigen and GAD both at the permissive and nonpermissive temperatures and MAP-2 immunoreactivity at the nonpermissive temperature. Both lines contain GABA as measured by reversed-phase HPLC and M213-2O expresses nipecotic-sensitive [14C]GABA uptake.
Alcohol, Drugs and Sexual Function: A Review

Abstract The use of psychoactive substances is popularly believed to loosen sexual inhibitions and contribute to increased sexual activity. However, the actual direct and indirect effects of alcohol and drugs on sexual function are still not fully understood. This article provides a new critical review of the research on the impact on male and female sexual function of psychoactive drugs including alcohol, nicotine, and illicit drugs. The authors consider the effects of both acute and chronic use and review findings from controlled laboratory studies as well as survey and interview research. Research on the impact of substance use and abuse on human sexual function has some limitations due to small and nongeneralizable samples, lack of controlled research design or comparison groups, reliance on self-reported data, or failure to specify or control for dosage effects, expectancies, social effects, and multiple substance use. The lack of controls on physiological, psychological, environmental and cultural factors that could alter the relationship between substance use and sexual function also make it difficult to draw conclusions about direct causal mechanisms. Despite these limitations, this review suggests that chronic alcohol and drug abuse have clear deleterious affects on sexual functioning for many individuals.
Do C-H...O hydrogen bonds contribute to the stability of nucleic acid base pairs?

The possible formation of inter-base C-H.O hydrogen bonds in A.T, A.U and certain non-Watson-Crick base pairs is examined. A geometrical analysis in conjunction with implications for the thermodynamic stability of the base pairs suggests that C-H.O hydrogen bonds could form in nucleic acid base pairs. They may alleviate destabilizing interactions that would arise if an unsatisfied hydrogen-bond acceptor were present and mediate secondary hydrogen-bonding effects in these base pairs.
PD-1 Blockade in Rhesus Macaques: Impact on Chronic Infection and Prophylactic Vaccination

Programmed Cell Death 1 (PD-1) plays a crucial role in immunomodulation. Binding of PD-1 to its ligand receptors down-regulates immune responses, and published reports suggest that this immune modulation is exploited in cases of tumor progression or chronic viral infection to evade immune surveillance. Thus, blockade of this signal could restore or enhance host immune functions. To test this hypothesis, we generated a panel of mAbs specific to human PD-1 that block PD ligand 1 and tested them for in vitro binding, blocking, and functional T cell responses, and evaluated a lead candidate in two in vivo rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) models. In the first therapeutic model, chronically SIV-infected macaques were treated with a single infusion of anti-PD-1 mAb; viral loads increased transiently before returning to, or falling below, pretreatment baselines. In the second prophylactic model, naive macaques were immunized with an SIV-gag adenovirus vector vaccine. Induced PD-1 blockade caused a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increase in the peak percentage of T cells specific for the CM9 Gag epitope. These new results on PD-1 blockade in nonhuman primates point to a broader role for PD-1 immunomodulation and to potential applications in humans.
New dual-quantization multibit sigma-delta modulators with digital noise-shaping

A new architecture of multibit Sigma-Delta modulator with dual-quantization is proposed here where the multibit DAC in the feedback path is replaced for a single-bit one. Unlike other dual-quantization architectures based on digital cancellation, the proposed one is based on an additional feedback path in the input of the second modulator composed of a quantizer with digital noise-shaping, a digital integrator and a multibit DAC. The non-idealities of the later are not critical because they are shaped by the transfer function of the first integrator. When compared to other dual-quantization architectures, the proposed one is more robust against mismatches between the analog and digital paths, at the cost of an increased complexity. Theoretical and simulation results are presented.
Application of BP neural network to prediction of library circulation

In this paper, a research is made for a prediction model for library circulation established upon application of BP neural network, by which it is possible to predict circulation of books from a library. And the prediction model is subject to verification through simulation upon combination of actual statistical data in terms of library circulation, with a good verification effect. It is of great guiding and referential significance to make a quantitative and qualitative analysis of library circulation and improve library management.
Análisis de sentimientos a nivel de aspecto usando ontologías y aprendizaje automático

En este articulo se presenta un sistema de analisis de sentimientos a nivel de aspecto que permite extraer automaticamente las caracteristicas de una opinion y determinar la polaridad asociada. El sistema propuesto esta basado en un modelo que utiliza ontologias de dominio para la deteccion de los aspectos y un clasificador basado en Maquinas de Soporte Vectorial para la asignacion de la polaridad a los aspectos detectados. El trabajo experimental se ha realizado utilizando el conjunto de datos desarrollado para la Tarea 5, Sentence-level ABSA en SemEval 2016 para el espanol. El sistema propuesto ha obtenido un 73.07 en F1 en la extraccion de aspectos (slot2) y un 46.24 de F1 en la subtarea conjunta de categorizacion y extraccion de aspectos (slot1,2) utilizando una aproximacion basada en ontologias. Para la subtarea de clasificacion de sentimientos (slot3) se ha obtenido una Accuracy de 84.79% utilizando una aproximacion basada en el uso de Maquinas de Soporte Vectorial y lexicones de polaridad. Estos valores superan los mejores resultados obtenidos en SemEval.
FHE with Recursive Ciphertext

In this paper I propose fully homomorphic public-key encryption (FHPKE) with the recursive ciphertex. A ciphertext consists of three sub-ciphertexts corresponding to one plaintext. When we execute the additional operation or multiplicative operation, a new three sub-ciphertexts are generated from the three sub-ciphertexts recursively without revealing the plaintexts. The scheme is based on the discrete logarithm assumption (DLA) and computational Diffie–Hellman assumption (CDH) of multivariate polynomials on octonion ring with composite number modulus. The scheme is immune from “m and m attack”. keywords: fully homomorphic public-key encryption, discrete logarithm assumption, computational Diffie–Hellman assumption, octonion ring, factorization
Demonstration of GIS web-based platform for experimentation supported by geosensors in a WSN

In this work we present a GIS web-based open source platform for wireless in situ geosensor data visualization and distributed geoprocessing. Emphasis is put on: i) visualization of sensor measurements and sensor location on a map; ii) geoprocessing of these data; iii) and, visualization of geoprocessing results on a map. The platform combines the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards, in particular the Sensor Observation Service (SOS), and the OGC Web Processing Service (WPS).
Auto-tuning procedures for distributed nonparametric regression algorithms

We propose a distributed regression algorithm with the capability of automatically calibrating its parameters during its on-line functioning. The estimation procedure corresponds to a Regularization Network, i.e., the structural form of the estimator is a linear combination of basis functions which coefficients are computed by solving a linear system. The automatic tuning strategy instead constructs and then exploits opportune bounds on the distance between the distributed estimation results and the unknown centralized optimal estimate that would be computed processing the whole dataset at once. By numerical simulations we show how the proposed procedure allows the sensor networks to effectively self-tune the parameters of the distributed regression scheme by simple consensus strategies.
Individual-specific management of reference data in adaptive ensembles for face re-identification

During video surveillance, face re-identification allows recognition and targeting of individuals of interest from faces captured across a network of video cameras. In such applications, face recognition is challenging because faces are captured under limited spatial and temporal constraints. In addition, facial models for recognition are commonly designed using a limited number of representative reference samples from faces captured under specific conditions, regrouped into facial trajectories. Given new reference samples (provided by an operator or through some self-updating process), updating facial models may allow maintenance of a high level of performance over time. Although adaptive ensembles have been successfully applied to robust modelling of an individual's facial appearance, reference data samples from a trajectory must be stored for validation. In this study, a memory management strategy based on Kullback-Leiber (KL) divergence is proposed to rank and select the most relevant validation samples over time in adaptive individual- specific ensembles. When new reference samples become available for an individual, updates to the corresponding ensemble are validated using a mixture of new and previously-stored samples. Only the samples with the highest KL divergence are preserved in memory for future adaptations. This strategy is compared with reference classifiers using videos from the face in action data. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy tends to select discriminative samples from wolf-like individuals for validation. It allows maintenance of a high level of performance, while reducing the number of samples per individual by up to 80%.
Dynamically Translating Binary Code for Multi-Threaded Programs Using Shared Code Cache

mc2llvm is a process-level ARM-to-x86 binary translator developed in our lab in the past several years. Currently, it is able to emulate singlethreaded programs. We extend mc2llvm to emulate multi-threaded programs. Our main task is to reconstruct its architecture for multi-threaded programs.Register mapping, code cache management, and address mapping in mc2 llvm have all been modified. In addition,to further speed up the emulation, we collect hot paths,aggressively optimize and generate code for them at run time. Additional threads are used to alleviate the overhead. Thus, when the same hot path is walked through again, the corresponding optimized native code will be executed instead. In our experiments, our system is 8.8X faster than QEMU(quick emulator) on average when emulating the specified benchmarks with 8 guest threads.