Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Valgrind to Detect Undefined Value Errors with Bit-Precision

We present Memcheck, a tool that has been implemented with the dynamic binary instrumentation framework Valgrind. Memcheck detects a wide range of memory errors in programs as they run. This paper focuses on one kind of error that Memcheck detects: undefined value errors. Such errors are common, and often cause bugs that are hard to find in programs written in languages such as C, C++ and Fortran. Memcheck's definedness checking improves on that of previous tools by being accurate to the level of individual bits. This accuracy gives Memcheck a low false positive and false negative rate. The definedness checking involves shadowing every bit of data in registers and memory with a second bit that indicates if the bit has a defined value. Every value-creating operation is instrumented with a shadow operation that propagates shadow bits appropriately. Memcheck uses these shadow bits to detect uses of undefined values that could adversely affect a program's behaviour. Under Memcheck, programs typically run 20-30 times slower than normal. This is fast enough to use with large programs. Memcheck finds many errors in real programs, and has been used during the past two years by thousands of programmers on a wide range of systems, including OpenOffice, Mozilla, Opera, KDE, GNOME, MySQL, Perl, Samba, The GIMP, and Unreal Tournament.
Effect of Cuneiformis Nucleus Inactivation by Lidocaine Microinjection on the Analgesic Response of Morphine in Rats

The present study was performed to evaluate the analgesic effect of morphine microinjection into the cuneiformis nucleus (CnF) and the effect of inactivation of this area by lidocaine on pain modulation. Rats were anaesthetized by thiopental (45-60 mg/kg/i.p.) and placed in a stereotaxic instrument, and then a guide cannula was implanted just one mm above the CnF. Following surgery and recovery period, various doses of morphine (10, 20 and 40 µg/0.5 µl saline) and lidocaine 5% (0.5 µl) were microinjected into the CnF. Antinociceptive response was measured by tail flick latency (TFL) and maximal possible effect (% MPE) for 25 min at 5-min intervals, before and after any injection in control and experimental groups. The results of this study showed that morphine microinjection into the CnF increased TFL in a dose-dependent manner. TFL was also increased significantly after lidocaine microinjection. However, co-microinjection of morphine and lidocaine increased TFL which was less than morphine microinjection alone. The intravenous morphine injection with lidocaine microinjection increased TFL significantly, as compared to morphine microinjection. These effects were reversed by naloxone administration. In summary, the results of this study showed that morphine microinjection into the CnF caused a significant analgesic response which indicates that CnF may be involved in pain modulation. Iran. Biomed. J. 10 (1): 21-26, 2006
Potential of Dried Blood Self-Sampling for Cyclosporine C2 Monitoring in Transplant Outpatients

Background. Close therapeutic drug monitoring of Cyclosporine (CsA) in transplant outpatients is a favourable procedure to maintain the long-term blood drug levels within their respective narrow therapeutic ranges. Compared to basal levels (C0), CsA peak levels (C2) are more predictive for transplant rejection. However, the application of C2 levels is hampered by the precise time of blood sampling and the need of qualified personnel. Therefore, we evaluated a new C2 self-obtained blood sampling in transplant outpatients using dried capillary and venous blood samples and compared the CsA levels, stability, and clinical practicability of the different procedures. Methods. 55 solid organ transplant recipients were instructed to use single-handed sampling of each 50 μL capillary blood and dried blood spots by finger prick using standard finger prick devices. We used standardized EDTA-coated capillary blood collection systems and standardized filter paper WS 903. CsA was determined by LC-MS/MS. The patients and technicians also answered a questionnaire on the procedure and sample quality. Results. The C0 and C2 levels from capillary blood collection systems (C0 [ng/mL]: 114.5 ± 44.5; C2: 578.2 ± 222.2) and capillary dried blood (C0 [ng/mL]: 175.4 ± 137.7; C2: 743.1 ± 368.1) significantly (P < .01) correlated with the drug levels of the venous blood samples (C0 [ng/mL]: 97.8 ± 37.4; C2: 511.2 ± 201.5). The correlation at C0 was ρ cap. -ven. = 0.749, and ρ dried blood-ven = 0.432; at C2: ρ cap. -ven. = 0.861 and ρ dried blood-ven = 0.711. The patients preferred the dried blood sampling because of the more simple and less painful procedure. Additionally, the sample quality of self-obtained dried blood spots for LC-MS/MS analytics was superior to the respective capillary blood samples. Conclusions. C2 self-obtained dried blood sampling can easily be performed by transplant outpatients and is therefore suitable and cost-effective for close therapeutic drug monitoring.
Postoperative Patient-Controlled Local Anesthetic Administration at Home

F or most day-surgery patients, postoperative pain can be managed adequately at home with conventional oral analgesics, such as paracetamol, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and weak opioids (codeine, dextropropoxyphene). However, for moderate to severe pain, this treatment may be inadequate (l-4). Our recent study of 1035 patients undergoing a variety of day-surgical procedures (5) showed that approximately 30% of patients experienced moderate to severe pain at home. Severe pain was experienced by many patients who underwent the following surgeries: orthopedic (knee, shoulder, iliac bone graft, maxillofacial, halux valgus), breast augmentation, inguinal hernia, and varicose veins. We describe a technique using an elastometric balloon pump, which allows the patient to self-administer local anesthetic analgesia at home. This study was undertaken to evaluate the safety and applicability of the technique in a wide range of surgical procedures.
GOAL: a load-balanced adaptive routing algorithm for torus networks

We introduce a load balanced adaptive routing algorithm for torus networks, GOAL - globally oblivious adaptive locally - that provides high throughput on adversarial traffic patterns, matching or exceeding fully randomized routing and exceeding the worst case performance of Chaos (K. Bolding et al., 1997), RLB (A. Singh et al., 2002), and minimal routing (L. Gravano et al., 1994) by more than 40%. GOAL also preserves locality to provide up to 4.6* the throughput of fully randomized routing (L. G. Valiant, 1982) on local traffic. GOAL achieves global load balance by randomly choosing the direction to route in each dimension. Local load balance is then achieved by routing in the selected directions adaptively. We compare the throughput, latency, stability and hot spot performance of GOAL to six previously published routing algorithms on six specific traffic patterns and 1000 randomly generated permutations.
Phosphorylation of bamboo mosaic virus satellite RNA (satBaMV)-encoded protein P20 downregulates the formation of satBaMV-P20 ribonucleoprotein complex

Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) satellite RNA (satBaMV) depends on BaMV for its replication and encapsidation. SatBaMV-encoded P20 protein is an RNA-binding protein that facilitates satBaMV systemic movement in co-infected plants. Here, we examined phosphorylation of P20 and its regulatory functions. Recombinant P20 (rP20) was phosphorylated by host cellular kinase(s) in vitro, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and mutational analyses revealed Ser-11 as the phosphorylation site. The phosphor-mimic rP20 protein interactions with satBaMV-translated mutant P20 were affected. In overlay assay, the Asp mutation at S11 (S11D) completely abolished the self-interaction of rP20 and significantly inhibited the interaction with both the WT and S11A rP20. In chemical cross-linking assays, S11D failed to oligomerize. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and subsequent Hill transformation analysis revealed a low affinity of the phospho-mimicking rP20 for satBaMV RNA. Substantial modulation of satBaMV RNA conformation upon interaction with nonphospho-mimic rP20 in circular dichroism analysis indicated formation of stable satBaMV ribonucleoprotein complexes. The dissimilar satBaMV translation regulation of the nonphospho- and phospho-mimic rP20 suggests that phosphorylation of P20 in the ribonucleoprotein complex converts the translation-incompetent satBaMV RNA to messenger RNA. The phospho-deficient or phospho-mimicking P20 mutant of satBaMV delayed the systemic spread of satBaMV in co-infected Nicotiana benthamiana with BaMV. Thus, satBaMV likely regulates the formation of satBaMV RNP complex during co-infection in planta.
Scalable crowd-sourcing of video from mobile devices

We propose a scalable Internet system for continuous collection of crowd-sourced video from devices such as Google Glass. Our hybrid cloud architecture, GigaSight, is effectively a Content Delivery Network (CDN) in reverse. It achieves scalability by decentralizing the collection infrastructure using cloudlets based on virtual machines~(VMs). Based on time, location, and content, privacy sensitive information is automatically removed from the video. This process, which we refer to as denaturing, is executed in a user-specific VM on the cloudlet. Users can perform content-based searches on the total catalog of denatured videos. Our experiments reveal the bottlenecks for video upload, denaturing, indexing, and content-based search. They also provide insight on how parameters such as frame rate and resolution impact scalability.
Statistical Model Criticism using Kernel Two Sample Tests

We propose an exploratory approach to statistical model criticism using maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) two sample tests. Typical approaches to model criticism require a practitioner to select a statistic by which to measure discrepancies between data and a statistical model. MMD two sample tests are instead constructed as an analytic maximisation over a large space of possible statistics and therefore automatically select the statistic which most shows any discrepancy. We demonstrate on synthetic data that the selected statistic, called the witness function, can be used to identify where a statistical model most misrepresents the data it was trained on. We then apply the procedure to real data where the models being assessed are restricted Boltzmann machines, deep belief networks and Gaussian process regression and demonstrate the ways in which these models fail to capture the properties of the data they are trained on.
Improvement and Analysis of Multipath Routing Protocol AOMDV Based on CMMBCR

Mobile ad hoc network is a distributed wireless communication network, and energy issue has become a hot topic.CMMBCR considers the latest routing strategy about energy issue in ad hoc networks according to different situation , AOMDV multi-path routing protocol is improved based on the energy saving strategy CMMBCR.The improved protocol sets three node status and the nodes that do not work for a long time must be changed into sleep state,thus reducing the energy consumption of nodes. In order to validate the performance of the improved protocol which based on CMMBCR, it uses the simulation platform of NS2 to analyse the improved multipath routing protocol.The results show that, compared with AOMDV protocol the improved routing protocol which based on CMMBCR enhances the delivery rate and the energy costs also is greatly reduced, thus it advances the network performance to some degree.
SElf-Graphing of On-Task Behavior: Enhancing the Reactive Effects of Self-Monitoring on On-Task Behavior and Academic Performance

This study investigated the effects of self-graphing on improving the reactivity of self-monitoring procedures for two students with learning disabilities. Differential effects of self-evaluation and self-reinforcement were assessed along with self-monitoring and self-graphing using a single-case multiple-treatment design. Subjects self-monitored and self-graphed their on-task behavior. Measures of academic arithmetic performance (productivity and accuracy) were collected simultaneously. For both students, on-task behavior and academic performance improved during self-monitoring, with additional increases due to self-graphing. However, little improvement in on-task behavior and academic productivity was noted with the introduction of self-reinforcement and self-evaluation, although academic accuracy increased slightly for both. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
A real-time search engine for the Web of Things

The increasing penetration of the real world with embedded and globally networked sensors leads to the formation of the Internet of Things, offering global online access to the current state of the real world. We argue that on top of this realtime data, a Web of Things is needed, a software infrastructure that allows the construction of applications involving sensor-equipped real-world entities living in the Internet of Things. A key service for such an infrastructure is a search engine that supports lookup of real-world entities that exhibit a certain current state as perceived by sensors. In contrast to existing Web search engines, such a real-world search engine has to support searching for rapidly changing state information generated by sensors. In this paper, we show how the existing Web infrastructure can be leveraged to support publishing of sensor and entity data. Based on this we present a real-time search engine for the Web of Things.
SOML: Sparse Online Metric Learning with Application to Image Retrieval

Image similarity search plays a key role in many multimediaapplications, where multimedia data (such as images and videos) areusually represented in high-dimensional feature space. In thispaper, we propose a novel Sparse Online Metric Learning (SOML)scheme for learning sparse distance functions from large-scalehigh-dimensional data and explore its application to imageretrieval. In contrast to many existing distance metric learningalgorithms that are often designed for low-dimensional data, theproposed algorithms are able to learn sparse distance metrics fromhigh-dimensional data in an efficient and scalable manner. Ourexperimental results show that the proposed method achieves betteror at least comparable accuracy performance than thestate-of-the-art non-sparse distance metric learning approaches, butenjoys a significant advantage in computational efficiency andsparsity, making it more practical for real-world applications.
Distinct Dopaminergic Personality Patterns in Patients with Prolactinomas: A Comparison with Nonfunctioning Pituitary Adenoma Patients and Age- and Gender-Matched Controls

Introduction: Personality patterns such as extraversion and novelty seeking have been associated with an altered dopaminergic activity in healthy subjects. Patients with prolactinomas have been described as exhibiting an altered dopaminergic tone and are often treated with dopamine agonists. Little is known about the personality traits of this patient group. Hence, we aimed at examining whether patients with prolactinomas exhibit modified personality patterns compared to patients with nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas and healthy controls. Subjects/Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 86 patients with prolactinomas and 58 patients with nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) were compared with 172 mentally healthy age- and gender-matched controls. To assess personality traits, standardized personality questionnaires (Eysenck personality questionnaire-EPQ-RK and Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire devised by Cloninger-TPQ) were administered. Results: Patients with either prolactinomas or NFPA showed a distinct personality profile compared to the normal population, characterized by increased neuroticism and they also answered in a socially desirable mode. On harm-avoidant total and subscales, they presented with a higher fear of uncertainty and also increased fatigability and asthenia. The prolactinoma patients, when contrasted with the ‘clinical’ control group of patients with NFPA and after post hoc tests for multiple comparisons following the Bonferroni-Holm procedure showed significantly reduced extraversion (p = 0.044) and increased shyness with strangers (p = 0.044), tending to be more neurotic and present lower scores in the novelty seeking subscale impulsiveness. Conclusion: This is, to our knowledge, the first study providing new evidence of an altered personality profile of prolactinoma patients which might affect the patient-doctor relationship, treatment and patient’s quality of life.
Multiple Roles for BordetellaLipopolysaccharide Molecules during Respiratory Tract Infection

ABSTRACT Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica are closely related subspecies that cause respiratory tract infections in humans and other mammals and express many similar virulence factors. Their lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules differ, containing either a complex trisaccharide (B. pertussis), a trisaccharide plus an O-antigen-like repeat (B. bronchiseptica), or an altered trisaccharide plus an O-antigen-like repeat (B. parapertussis). Deletion of the wlb locus results in the loss of membrane-distal polysaccharide domains in the three subspecies of bordetellae, leaving LPS molecules consisting of lipid A and core oligosaccharide. We have used wlb deletion (Δwlb) mutants to investigate the roles of distal LPS structures in respiratory tract infection by bordetellae. Each mutant was defective compared to its parent strain in colonization of the respiratory tracts of BALB/c mice, but the location in the respiratory tract and the time point at which defects were observed differed significantly. Although the Δwlb mutants were much more sensitive to complement-mediated killing in vitro, they displayed similar defects in respiratory tract colonization in C5−/− mice compared with wild-type (wt) mice, indicating that increased sensitivity to complement-mediated lysis is not sufficient to explain the in vivo defects. B. pertussis andB. parapertussis Δwlb mutants were also defective compared to wt strains in colonization of SCID-beige mice, indicating that the defects were not limited to interactions with adaptive immunity. Interestingly, the B. bronchiseptica Δwlbstrain was defective, compared to the wt strain, in colonization of the respiratory tracts of BALB/c mice beginning 1 week postinoculation but did not differ from the wt strain in its ability to colonize the respiratory tracts of B-cell- and T-cell-deficient mice, suggesting that wlb-dependent LPS modifications in B. bronchiseptica modulate interactions with adaptive immunity. These data show that biosynthesis of a full-length LPS molecule by these three bordetellae is essential for the expression of full virulence for mice. In addition, the data indicate that the different distal structures modifying the LPS molecules on these three closely related subspecies serve different purposes in respiratory tract infection, highlighting the diversity of functions attributable to LPS of gram-negative bacteria.
Word-Reading Strategies in Elementary School Children: Relations to Comprehension, Reading Time, and Phonemic Awareness.

THE AUTHORS examine the word-reading strategies of a sample of secondand third-grade students in normal classrooms, focusing on the students' relative reliance on decoding versus sight-word associations, and on the relations between their use of these strategies and their performance on other reading-related measures. Students were clustered on the basis of their performance on grade-appropriate lists of irregularly spelled words (e.g., laugh) and nonsense words (e.g., lemat). In both grades, approximately half of the children performed above average on both lists; one eighth performed well below average on both; one fifth attained average scores on irregular words but substantially below-average scores on nonsense words (termed Chinese readers), and one seventh showed the opposite pattern-average or better nonsense-word scores but poor irregular-word performance (Phoenician readers). The fourcluster solution accounted for about 84% of the variability at each grade level. When the Chinese and Phoenician groups were compared, a significant interaction between grouping and grade level was found on reading comprehension, due to the superior performance of the Grade 3 Phoenicians compared with their counterparts in Grade 2. No such contrast was found for the Chinese readers. The authors suggest that word-specific associations may serve a student adequately up to about second grade, but that failure to acquire and use efficient decoding skills will begin to take a toll on reading comprehension by Grade 3. In contrast, Phoenicians may be hindered in comprehension performance in the early years, but begin to improve comparatively as they progress through school. The authors also discuss the compatibility of the findings with typologies such as Boder's classification system of dysphonetic, dyseidetic, and mixed reading disabilities.
Exposure to Violence, Ethos of Conflict, and Support for Compromise

Does ongoing exposure to political violence prompt subject groups to support or oppose compromise in situations of intractable conflict? If so, what is the mechanism underlying these processes? Political scholarship neither offers conclusive arguments nor sufficiently addresses individual-level forms of exposure to violence in the context of political conflict, particularly the factors mediating political outcomes. We address this by looking at the impact of exposure to political violence, psychological distress, perceived threat, and ethos of conflict on support for political compromise. A mediated model is hypothesized whereby exposure to political violence provokes support for the ethos of conflict and hinders support for compromise through perceived psychological distress and perceived national threat. We examined representative samples of two parties to the same conflict: Israelis (N = 781) and Palestinians from Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank (N = 1,196). The study’s main conclusion is that ethos of conflict serves as a mediating variable in the relationship between exposure to violence and attitudes toward peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Suppose the USA had REACH: ramifications for formaldehyde

The Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) legislation for regulating chemicals came into force in the EU in June 2007. This framework is stricter and more precautionary than its counterpart in the USA – the Toxic Substances Control Act – in that it requires data submissions for not only new but existing chemicals as well. This study evaluates the REACH process by assuming that the program exists in the USA and by taking formaldehyde, which is widely used yet toxic at certain doses, through the steps of REACH. We find that the attractive features of REACH are that it shifts more of the technical burdens of regulation to industry and that it may stimulate competitive pressures for safer, ‘greener’ products. Downsides include technical ambiguities in the analytical guidance, a potential for creating large amounts of paperwork, and perhaps a small risk reduction relative to the costs of the legislation. We recommend additional case studies with other existing chemicals to obtain a fuller picture of the potential ramifications of REACH‐like legislation in the USA.