Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated Modeling of I/O Performance and Interference Effects in Virtualized Storage Systems

Modern IT systems frequently employ virtualization technology to maximize resource efficiency. By sharing physical resources, however, the virtualized storage used in such environments can quickly become a bottleneck. Performance modeling and evaluation techniques applied prior to system deployment help to avoid performance issues. In current practice, however, modeling I/O performance is usually avoided due to the increasing complexity of modern virtualized storage systems. In this paper, we present an automated modeling approach based on statistical regression techniques to analyze I/O performance and interference effects in the context of virtualized storage systems. We demonstrate our approach in three case studies creating performance models with two I/O benchmarks. The case studies are conducted in a real-world environment based on IBM System z and IBM DS8700 server hardware. Using our approach, we effectively create performance models with excellent prediction accuracy for both I/O-intensive applications and I/O performance interference effects with a mean prediction error up to 7%.
Evaluation of Phage Display Discovered Peptides as Ligands for Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)

The aim of this study was to identify potential ligands of PSMA suitable for further development as novel PSMA-targeted peptides using phage display technology. The human PSMA protein was immobilized as a target followed by incubation with a 15-mer phage display random peptide library. After one round of prescreening and two rounds of screening, high-stringency screening at the third round of panning was performed to identify the highest affinity binders. Phages which had a specific binding activity to PSMA in human prostate cancer cells were isolated and the DNA corresponding to the 15-mers were sequenced to provide three consensus sequences: GDHSPFT, SHFSVGS and EVPRLSLLAVFL as well as other sequences that did not display consensus. Two of the peptide sequences deduced from DNA sequencing of binding phages, SHSFSVGSGDHSPFT and GRFLTGGTGRLLRIS were labeled with 5-carboxyfluorescein and shown to bind and co-internalize with PSMA on human prostate cancer cells by fluorescence microscopy. The high stringency requirements yielded peptides with affinities KD∼1 µM or greater which are suitable starting points for affinity maturation. While these values were less than anticipated, the high stringency did yield peptide sequences that apparently bound to different surfaces on PSMA. These peptide sequences could be the basis for further development of peptides for prostate cancer tumor imaging and therapy.
Robust 3D human tracking based on Kinect

Unlike conventional human detection in RGB images or intensity images, we investigate three dimensional (3D) Human detection and tracking in depth sequence in this paper. Boundary problem is a critical issue that influences performance of detection and tracking. In this paper we design a tracking system consisting of Microsoft Kinect and stepping motor, which can guarantee people always stay in the center of camera vision. Clearly, the boundary problem can be solved efficiently. We also establish an images database, which contains depth images and RGB images for performance evaluation of the proposed auto-tracking system. Experiment results show that the proposed system is robust against variations in illumination, background, pose.
Can irrelevant data help semi-supervised learning, why and how?

Previous semi-supervised learning (SSL) techniques usually assume unlabeled data are relevant to the target task. That is, they follow the same distribution as the targeted labeled data. In this paper, we address a different and very difficult scenario in SSL, where the unlabeled data may be a mixture of data relevant or irrelevant to the target binary classification task. In our framework, we do not require explicitly prior knowledge on the relatedness of the unlabeled data to the target data. In order to alleviate the effect of the irrelevant unlabeled data and utilize the implicit knowledge among all available data, we develop a novel maximum margin classifier, named the tri-class support vector machine (3C-SVM), to seek an inductive rule to separate the target binary classification task well while finding out the irrelevant data by-product. To attain this goal, we introduce a new min loss function, which can relieve the impact of the irrelevant data while relying more on the labeled data and the relevant unlabeled data. This loss function can therefore achieve the maximum entropy principle. The 3C-SVM can then generalize standard SVMs, Semi-supervised SVMs, and SVMs learned from the universum as its special cases. We further analyze the property of 3C-SVM on why the irrelevant data can help to improve the model performance. For implementation, we make relaxation and approximate the objective by the convex-concave procedure, which turns the original optimization from integral programming problem to a problem by just solving a finite number of quadratic programming problems. Empirical results are reported to demonstrate the advantages of our 3C-SVM model.
Relationships between minute characteristics of finger ridges and pattern size and shape.

We present results of a multivariate analysis of several characteristics of the ridge pattern on the tip of fingers III and IV of the right hand, with special consideration of the minute properties of ridges. The analysis is based on a sample of 38 females and 63 males of European origin. Results of factor analysis for the male sample reveal that pattern type and size load on one factor. Furthermore, there are separate factors for the two types of minutiae . If characters on both fingers are considered jointly, there are seven factors, identical for both fingers on some variables, but unique for minutiae , especially for junctions, on each finger. These results are consistent with evidence obtained in our previous study that junctions and pattern type are largely independent correlates with tactile sensitivity.
Low-dimensional lattice basis reduction revisited

Lattice reduction is a geometric generalization of the problem of computing greatest common divisors. Most of the interesting algorithmic problems related to lattice reduction are NP-hard as the lattice dimension increases. This article deals with the low-dimensional case. We study a greedy lattice basis reduction algorithm for the Euclidean norm, which is arguably the most natural lattice basis reduction algorithm because it is a straightforward generalization of an old two-dimensional algorithm of Lagrange, usually known as Gauss' algorithm, and which is very similar to Euclid's gcd algorithm. Our results are twofold. From a mathematical point of view, we show that up to dimension four, the output of the greedy algorithm is optimal: The output basis reaches all the successive minima of the lattice. However, as soon as the lattice dimension is strictly higher than four, the output basis may be arbitrarily bad as it may not even reach the first minimum. More importantly, from a computational point of view, we show that up to dimension four, the bit-complexity of the greedy algorithm is quadratic without fast integer arithmetic, just like Euclid's gcd algorithm. This was already proved by Semaev up to dimension three using rather technical means, but it was previously unknown whether or not the algorithm was still polynomial in dimension four. We propose two different analyzes: a global approach based on the geometry of the current basis when the length decrease stalls, and a local approach showing directly that a significant length decrease must occur every O(1) consecutive steps. Our analyzes simplify Semaev's analysis in dimensions two and three, and unify the cases of dimensions two to four. Although the global approach is much simpler, we also present the local approach because it gives further information on the behavior of the algorithm.
Scheduling problems in parallel query optimization

We introduce a class of novel multiprocessor scheduling problems that arise in the optimization of SQL queries for parallel machines. These consist of scheduling a tree of interdependent communicating operators while exploiting both inter-operator and intra-operator parallelism. We develop algorithms for the specific problem of scheduling a Pipelined Operator Tree in which all operators run in parallel using inter-operator parallelism. Weights associated with nodes and edges represent respectively the cost of operators and communication. Communication cost is incurred only if adjacent operators are assigned different processors. The optimization problem is to assign operators to processors so as to minimize the maximum processor load. We develop two approximation algorithms for this NP-hard problem. The faster algorithm has a performance ratio of 3.56 while the slower algorithm has a ratio of 2.87.
Stereotactic surgery of nucleus tegmenti pedunculopontini

The nucleus tegmenti pedunculopontine (PPTg) is a new target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson's disease (PD), in particular for ameliorating postural abnormalities and gait disturbances. The objective of the study is to describe the pre-operative planning, the surgical procedures and results of the DBS of PPTg in humans. Thirteen patients were considered. The surgical approach evolved from the traditional ‘indirect’ method based on stereotactic ventriculography (5 patients) to a more recent ‘direct’ method, based on both a digital elaboration of axial stereotactic CT scan and on the ‘direct’ visual 3D representation of the PPTg (8 patients). No major complication occurred. The direct approach allowed to eliminate the major sources of variability caused by the use of the traditional stereotactic approach. The DBS of PPTg induced a significant amelioration of the following clinical symptoms: gait disturbances, freezing on, speech and arising from the chair. These symptoms are usually not improved by levodopa treatment. The implantation of PPTg proved safe and effective in the treatment of levodopa resistant PD patients. The classic determination of stereotactic coordinates, through a proportional system based on ventriculography, utilising as landmark the CA-CP line and the top of the thalamus, and stereotactic atlases, can hardly be applied to brainstem surgery. The ‘direct’ method, based on both a digital elaboration of axial stereotactic CT scan and, on the ‘direct’ visualisation of brainstem borders as well as on the 3D representation of the PPTg, permits a better adaptation to individual anatomic features.
E-ROSETTE PHENOMENON FOR THE EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF NEOPLASTIC CONDITIONS IN BUFFALOES

A study was undertaken to diagnose neoplastic conditions during early stages of development in buffaloes based on change in T-lymphocyte count. In this study, total leukocyte count (TLC) and differential leukocyte count (DLC) were used to find the elicitation of immune response to neoplastic conditions and E-rosette formation by T-lymphocytes with sheep RBCs was used to differentiate T- lymphocyte and B-lymphocytes and enumerate Tlymphocytes. The increase in total leukocyte count (TLC) indicated that there was activation of specific immunity against tumor. The increase in lymphocyte count in differential leukocyte count (DLC) indicated that lymphocytes were activated during neoplastic conditions. A simple but reliable methodology of E-rosette formation for differentiation and enumeration of T-lymphocytes showed increase in T-lymphocyte population. This emphasizes that during early stages of neoplastic conditions there is increase in T-lymphocyte population and the condition can be diagnosed by counting the E-rosettes. The technique could well be used to diagnose and monitor the neoplastic conditions.
The Antisocial Police Personality: A View from the Inside

Abstract It is argued from a psychiatric standpoint that persons who meet diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐IV), have a decreased likelihood of existing within the police population. It is claimed that through psychological testing and background checks, police departments are better able to filter out unsuitable applicants. However, the less‐than‐perfect reliability of such tests, as well as loose entrance requirements by individual police departments, present opportunities for applicants with Antisocial Personality Disorder to make their way into policing. Simply, there is no guarantee that these individuals do not or cannot exist within the police population. This research will suggest that police officers with traits of Antisocial Personality Disorder exist, that the types of behavior displayed have become increasingly violent, and the possibility that such traits may well have been acquired through the police subculture and its easy access to deviance. This insight is offered by the one of the authors who is retired from the New Orleans Police Department.
Decision Support for the Migration of the Application Database Layer to the Cloud

Migrating an existing application to the Cloud is a complex and multi-dimensional problem requiring in many cases adapting the application in significant ways. Looking specifically into the database layer of the application, i.e. the aspect providing data persistence and manipulation capabilities, this involves dealing with differences in the granularity of interactions, refactoring of the application to cope with remote data sources, and addressing data confidentiality concerns. Toward this goal, in this work we present an application migration methodology which incorporates these aspects, and a decision support, application refactoring and data migration tool that assists application developers in realizing this methodology. For purposes of evaluating our proposal we present the results of a case study conducted in the context of an eScience project.
Avian Paramyxovirus Type-3 as a Vaccine Vector: Identification of a Genome Location for High Level Expression of a Foreign Gene

Avian paramyxovirus serotype 3 (APMV-3) causes infection in a wide variety of avian species, but it does not cause apparent diseases in chickens. On the contrary, APMV-1, also known as Newcastle disease virus (NDV), can cause severe disease in chickens. Currently, natural low virulence strains of NDV are used as live-attenuated vaccines throughout the world. NDV is also being evaluated as a vaccine vector against poultry pathogens. However, due to routine vaccination programs, chickens often possess pre-existing antibodies against NDV, which may cause the chickens to be less sensitive to recombinant NDV vaccines expressing antigens of other avian pathogens. Therefore, it may be possible for an APMV-3 vector vaccine to circumvent this issue. In this study, we determined the optimal insertion site in the genome of APMV-3 for high level expression of a foreign gene. We generated recombinant APMV-3 viruses expressing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) by inserting the GFP gene at five different intergenic regions in the genome. The levels of GFP transcription and translation were evaluated. Interestingly, the levels of GFP transcription and translation did not follow the 3′-to-5′ attenuation mechanism of non-segmented, negative-sense RNA viruses. The insertion of GFP gene into the P-M gene junction resulted in higher level of expression of GFP than when the gene was inserted into the upstream N-P gene junction. Unlike NDV, insertion of GFP did not attenuate the growth efficiency of AMPV-3. Thus, APMV-3 could be a more useful vaccine vector for avian pathogens than NDV.
Leaving Home and Boomerang Decisions: A Family Simulation Protocol

Boomeranging—adult children returning home—increasingly occurs in Western industrial societies on a cafeteria-like menu of emerging adulthood. We review benefits and problems across family backgrounds and offer a family simulation protocol for computerized life-course microsimulation complementing data and theory about boomeranging and family relationships. A teaching simulation consistent with this protocol has one or two parents and up to three children with given genders, races, and initial ages in a social influence network. It executes on six decision topics over simulated years with choices Stay/Leave-Home, Seek or Stay Married/Not, Seek Employment/Not, Opt for College/Not, Outside Romance/Not, and Resist Home Leaving/Not. Stay/Leave-Home signifies opposite choices on one topic. Employment, medical, education, and marital status events align with macro data and affect simulated decisions.
Oscillatory Correlates of Visual Consciousness

Conscious experiences are linked to activity in our brain: the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). Empirical research on these NCCs covers a wide range of brain activity signals, measures, and methodologies. In this paper, we focus on spontaneous brain oscillations; rhythmic fluctuations of neuronal (population) activity which can be characterized by a range of parameters, such as frequency, amplitude (power), and phase. We provide an overview of oscillatory measures that appear to correlate with conscious perception. We also discuss how increasingly sophisticated techniques allow us to study the causal role of oscillatory activity in conscious perception (i.e., ‘entrainment’). This review of oscillatory correlates of consciousness suggests that, for example, activity in the alpha-band (7–13 Hz) may index, or even causally support, conscious perception. But such results also showcase an increasingly acknowledged difficulty in NCC research; the challenge of separating neural activity necessary for conscious experience to arise (prerequisites) from neural activity underlying the conscious experience itself (substrates) or its results (consequences).
Dependence of Peptide Binding by MHC Class I Molecules on Their Interaction with TAP

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules bind peptides that are delivered from the cytosol into the endoplasmic reticulum by the MHC-encoded transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP). Peptide capture by immature heterodimers of class I heavy chains and β2-microglobulin may be facilitated by their physical association with TAP. A genetic defect in a human mutant cell line causes the complete failure of diverse class I heterodimers to associate with TAP. This deficiency impairs the ability of the class I heterodimers to efficiently capture peptides and results from loss of function of an unidentified gene or genes linked to the MHC.
Limit laws of estimators for critical multi-type Galton–Watson processes

We consider the asymptotics of various estimators based on a large sample of branching trees from a critical multi-type Galton-Watson process, as the sample size increases to infinity. The asymptotics of additive functions of trees, such as sizes of trees and frequencies of types within trees, a higher-order asymptotic of the ``relative frequency'' estimator of the left eigenvector of the mean matrix, a higher-order joint asymptotic of the maximum likelihood estimators of the offspring probabilities and the consistency of an estimator of the right eigenvector of the mean matrix, are established.
The Role of Subsidies in a Social Network with Interconnected Risk

Can subsidies promote Pareto-optimum coordination? We found that partially subsidizing the cooperative actions for 2 out of 6 players in a laboratory coordination game usually produced better coordination and higher total payoffs both with deterministic and stochastic payoffs. Not only were the subsidized players more likely to cooperate (choose the Pareto-optimum action), but the unsubsidized players increased their expectations on how likely others would cooperate and they cooperated more frequently themselves. After removing the subsidy, high coordination rates continued in most groups with stochastic payoffs, but declined for groups with deterministic payoffs. A post-game survey indicated that with stochastic payoffs, players focused on risk reduction. Temporary subsidies promoted lasting coordination because even after the subsidy was removed, players still assumed that others players would prefer reduced risks from cooperation. With deterministic payoffs, however, the subsidy might crowd out other rationales for coordination, with many players indicating that subsidy was the only reason for anyone to cooperate. Hence the coordination level dropped when the subsidy was removed.
Differential Distribution of Functional α1-Adrenergic Receptor Subtypes along the Rat Tail Artery

The rat tail artery has been used for the study of vasoconstriction mediated by α1A-adrenoceptors (ARs). However, rings from proximal segments of the tail artery (within the initial 4 cm, PRTA) were at least 3-fold more sensitive to methoxamine and phenylephrine (n = 6–12; p < 0.05) than rings from distal parts (between the sixth and 10th cm, DRTA). Interestingly, the imidazolines N-[5-(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-2-hydroxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthalen-1-yl]methanesulfonamide hydrobromide (A-61603) and oxymetazoline, which activate selectively α1A-ARs, were equipotent in PRTA and DRTA (n = 4–12), whereas buspirone, which activates selectively α1D-AR, was ≈70-fold more potent in PRTA than in DRTA (n = 8; p < 0.05). The selective α1D-AR antagonist 8-[2-[4-(methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]-8-azaspiro[4.5]decane-7,9-dione dihydrochloride (BMY-7378) was ≈70-fold more potent against the contractions induced by phenylephrine in PRTA (pKB of ≈8.45; n = 6) than in DRTA (pKB of ≈6.58; n = 6), although the antagonism was complex in PRTA. 5-Methylurapidil, a selective α1A-antagonist, was equipotent in PRTA and DRTA (pKB of ≈8.4), but the Schild slope in DRTA was 0.73 ± 0.05 (n = 5). The noncompetitive α1B-antagonist conotoxin ρ-TIA reduced the maximal contraction induced by phenylephrine in DRTA, but not in PRTA. These results indicate a predominant role for α1A-ARs in the contractions of both PRTA and DRTA but with significant coparticipations of α1D-ARs in PRTA and α1B-ARs in DRTA. Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction revealed that mRNA encoding α1A- and α1B-ARs are similarly distributed in PRTA and DRTA, whereas mRNA for α1D-ARs is twice more abundant in PRTA. Therefore, α1-ARs subtypes are differentially distributed along the tail artery. It is important to consider the segment from which the tissue preparation is taken to avoid misinterpretations on receptor mechanisms and drug selectivities.
Development — The Use Case of “ Gamergate Controversy ”

We present a comparative analysis of three tools for visually exploring the revision history of a Wikipedia article. We do so on the use case of “Gamergate Controversy”, an article that has been the setting of a major editor dispute in the last half of 2014 and early 2015, resulting in multiple editor bans and gathering news media attention. We show how our tools can be used to visually explore editor disagreement interactions and networks, as well as conflicted content and provenance, and present some of the results. We argue that these individual tools could benefit from synergies by combining them and lay out a possible architecture for doing so.