Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ViPZonE: Hardware Power Variability-Aware Virtual Memory Management for Energy Savings

Hardware variability is predicted to increase dramatically over the coming years as a consequence of continued technology scaling. In this paper, we apply the Underdesigned and Opportunistic Computing (UnO) paradigm by exposing system-level power variability to software to improve energy efficiency. We present ViPZonE, a memory management solution in conjunction with application annotations that opportunistically performs memory allocations to reduce DRAM energy. ViPZonE's components consist of a physical address space with DIMM-aware zones, a modified page allocation routine, and a new virtual memory system call for dynamic allocations from userspace. We implemented ViPZonE in the Linux kernel with GLIBC API support, running on a real x86-64 testbed with significant access power variation in its DDR3 DIMMs. We demonstrate that on our testbed, ViPZonE can save up to 27.80 percent memory energy, with no more than 4.80 percent performance degradation across a set of PARSEC benchmarks tested with respect to the baseline Linux software. Furthermore, through a hypothetical “what-if” extension, we predict that in future non-volatile memory systems which consume almost no idle power, ViPZonE could yield even greater benefits, demonstrating the ability to exploit memory hardware variability through opportunistic software.
Vascular Function in Grape Berries across Development and Its Relevance to Apparent Hydraulic Isolation1[C]

During the latter stages of development in fleshy fruit, water flow through the xylem declines markedly and the requirements of transpiration and further expansion are fulfilled primarily by the phloem. We evaluated the hypothesis that cessation of water transport through the xylem results from disruption or occlusion of pedicel and berry xylem conduits (hydraulic isolation). Xylem hydraulic resistance (Rh) was measured in developing fruit of grape (Vitis vinifera ‘Chardonnay’) 20 to 100 d after anthesis (DAA) and compared with observations of xylem anatomy by light and cryo-scanning electron microscopy and expression of six plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP) aquaporin genes (VvPIP1;1, VvPIP1;2, VvPIP1;3, VvPIP2;1, VvPIP2;2, VvPIP2;3). There was a significant increase in whole berry Rh and receptacle Rh in the latter stages of ripening (80–100 DAA), which was associated with deposition of gels or solutes in many receptacle xylem conduits. Peaks in the expression of some aquaporin isoforms corresponded to lower whole berry Rh 60 to 80 DAA, and the increase in Rh beginning at 80 DAA correlated with decreases in the expression of the two most predominantly expressed PIP genes. Although significant, the increase in berry Rh was not great enough, and occurred too late in development, to explain the decline in xylem flow that occurs at 60 to 75 DAA. The evidence suggests that the fruit is not hydraulically isolated from the parent plant by xylem occlusion but, rather, is “hydraulically buffered” by water delivered via the phloem.
The effect of brief compassionate imagery on empathy following severe head injury

Background: Loss of empathy is part of the personality change commonly observed following head injury. In a preliminary study that attempted to increase empathy after head injury, O’Neill and McMillan (2012) found a non-significant trend towards increased self-compassion using a brief compassionate imagery intervention. Aims: This study explores whether modifications to the design used by O’Neill and McMillan will result in a positive change in empathy and/or compassion in a severe head injury sample. Methods: Participants were randomised to a 50-minute compassionate focused imagery (CFI) or relaxation imagery (RI) control condition. Self-report of empathy, compassion, relaxation and anxiety, a wordsearch task designed to detect information processing bias and heart rate variability changes (HRV) were the dependent variables. Pre-intervention Fears of Compassion (FoC) scores were treated as a covariate. Results: Differences post-intervention were not significant between CFI and RI conditions. No correlations between outcome change and HRV change were found. No correlations between outcome change and FoC were found. Data from both conditions combined revealed a non-significant trend towards increased empathy post-intervention. This change was not reflected in HRV outcomes. Conclusion: Evidence to support the use of brief compassionate imagery for people with head injury was not found. Smaller than predicted between group effect sizes suggest that the study may be underpowered, and hence conclusions are tentative. A more intensive intervention programme in studies with a larger sample size is recommended.
APPLICATION OF RHETORICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN SENTENCES TO CLUSTER -BASED TEXT SUMMARIZATION

Many of previous research have proven that the usage of rhetorical relations is capable to enhance many applications such as text summarization, question answering and natural language generation. This work proposes an approach that expands the benefit of rhetorical relations to address redundancy problem in text summarization. We first examined and redefined the type of rhetorical relations that is useful to retrieve sentences with identical content and performed the identification of those relations using SVMs. By exploiting the rhetorical relations exist between sentences, we generate clusters of similar sentences from document sets. Then, cluster-based text summarization is performed using Conditional Markov Random Walk Model to measure the saliency scores of candidates summary. We evaluated our method by measuring the cohesion and separation of the clusters and ROUGE score of generated summaries. The experimental result shows that our method performed well which shows promising potential of applying rhetorical relation in cluster-based text summarization.
The t rp RNA-binding Attenuation Protein (TRAP) from Bacillus subtilis Binds to Unstackedtrp Leader RNA*

TRAP ( t rp RNA-binding attenuation protein) is a tryptophan-activated RNA-binding protein that regulates expression of the trp biosynthetic genes by binding to a series of GAG and UAG trinucleotide repeats generally separated by two or three spacer nucleotides. Previously, we showed that TRAP contains 11 identical subunits arranged in a symmetrical ring. Based on this structure, we proposed a model for the TRAP·RNA interaction where the RNA wraps around the protein with each repeat of the RNA contacting one or a combination of two adjacent subunits of the TRAP oligomer. Here, we have shown that RNAs selected in vitro based on their ability to bind tryptophan-activated TRAP contain multiple G/UAG repeats and show a strong bias for pyrimidines as the spacer nucleotides between these repeats. The affinity of the TRAP·RNA interaction displays a nonlinear temperature dependence, increasing between 5 °C and 47 °C and then decreasing from 47 °C to 67 °C. Differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrate that TRAP is highly thermostable with few detectable changes in the structure between 25 °C and 70 °C, suggesting that the temperature dependence of this interaction reflects changes in the RNA. Results from circular dichroism and UV absorbance spectroscopy support this hypothesis, demonstrating thattrp leader RNA becomes unstacked upon binding TRAP. We propose that the bias toward pyrimidines in the spacer nucleotides of the in vitro selected RNAs represents the inability of Us and Cs to form stable base stacking interactions, which allows the flexibility needed for the RNA to wrap around the TRAP oligomer.
Microcystin-LR induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in human bronchial epithelial cells

The present study aimed to investigate the toxicity of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) and to explore the mechanism of MC-LR-induced apoptosis in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells. HBE cells were treated with MC-LR (1, 10, 20, 30 and 40 µg/ml) alone or with MC-LR (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 µg/ml) and Z-VAD-FMK (0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 µM), which is a caspase inhibitor, for 24 and 48 h. Cell viability was assessed via an MTT assay and the half maximal effective concentration of MC-LR was determined. The optimal concentration of Z-VAD-FMK was established as 50 µm, which was then used in the subsequent experiments. MC-LR significantly inhibited cell viability and induced apoptosis of HBE cells in a dose-dependent manner, as detected by an Annexin V/propidium iodide assay. MC-LR induced cell apoptosis, excess reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial membrane potential collapse, upregulated Bax expression and downregulated B-cell lymphoma-2 expression in HBE cells. Moreover, western blot analysis demonstrated that MC-LR increased the activity levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 and induced cytochrome c release into the cytoplasm, suggesting that MC-LR-induced apoptosis is associated with the mitochondrial pathway. Furthermore, pretreatment with Z-VAD-FMK reduced MC-LR-induced apoptosis by blocking caspase activation in HBE cells. Therefore, the results of the present study suggested that MC-LR is capable of significantly inhibiting the viability of HBE cells by inducing apoptosis in a mitochondria-dependent manner. The present study provides a foundation for further understanding the mechanism underlying the toxicity of MC-LR in the respiratory system.
A Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Bounce Greater Than 1.4 ng/mL Is Clinically Significant After External Beam Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer

Objective:The purpose of this report is to determine whether any specific magnitude in the prostate specific antigen (PSA) bounce predicted for a clinically poorer outcome. Methods and Materials:Between May 1989 and August 1999, 568 prostate cancer patients were treated with 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (RT). All patients had at least 5 years of follow up, 6 post-RT PSA measurements and received no hormonal therapy as part of their initial management. The median follow up was 85 months. The median RT dose was 74 Gy. A bounce was defined by a minimum rise in PSA of 0.4 ng/mL over a 6-month period, followed by a drop of PSA of any magnitude. The analysis of the optimal PSA bounce cut-point was based upon a recursive partitioning approach (RPA) for censored data using the log-rank test for nodal separation of freedom from biochemical failure (FFBF) as defined by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) definition. Cox multivariate regression analysis (MVA) was used to confirm independent predictors of outcome among clinical and treatment related factors: PSA bounce as defined by the RPA, pretreatment PSA (continuous), Gleason score (2–6 versus 7–10), T stage (T1c/T2ab versus T2c/T3), and total radiation dose (continuous). Results:There were 154 patients (27%) experienced a bounce with a median magnitude of 0.6. The RPA resulted in an optimal PSA bounce cut-point of 1.4 ng/mL such that 5-year Kaplan-Meier estimates of FFBF were 71%, 59%, and 38% for nonbouncers, a bounce ≤1.4 ng/mL and >1.4 ng/mL, respectively. Twenty-one (14%) of the 154 patients who experienced a bounce had a PSA bounce magnitude >1.4 ng/mL. Stepwise MVA demonstrated that the PSA bounce grouped as above was an independent predictor of FFBF (P = 0.0013), freedom from distant metastases (P = 0.0028) and cause specific survival (P = 0.0266). Lower RT dose (P < 0.0001) was the only independent predictor of a PSA bounce >1.4 ng/mL. Conclusions:Using recursive partitioning techniques, a clinically significant PSA bounce occurred when the magnitude of the bounce was >1.4 ng/mL. This is important information to aid clinicians in determining management after RT.
Propofol, Sevoflurane, and Ketamine Induce a Reversible Increase in Delta-Gamma and Theta-Gamma Phase-Amplitude Coupling in Frontal Cortex of Rat

Studies from human and non-human species have demonstrated a breakdown of functional corticocortical connectivity during general anesthesia induced by anesthetics with diverse molecular, neurophysiological, and pharmacological profiles. Recent studies have demonstrated that changes in long-range neural communication, and by corollary, functional connectivity, might be influenced by cross-frequency coupling (CFC) between the phase of slow oscillations and the amplitude of local fast oscillations. Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) between slow oscillations and alpha rhythm during general anesthesia reveal distinct patterns depending on the anesthetic. In this study, we analyzed the effect of three clinically used anesthetics (propofol: n = 6, sevoflurane: n = 10, and ketamine: n = 8) with distinct molecular mechanisms on changes in PAC in the frontal cortex of rat. The loss of righting reflex was used as a surrogate for unconsciousness. PAC was calculated using the modulation index (MI) algorithm between delta (1–4 Hz), theta (4–10 Hz), low gamma (25–55 Hz), and high gamma (65–125 Hz) bands. A linear mixed model with fixed effects was used for statistical comparisons between waking, anesthetized, and post-anesthesia recovery epochs. All three anesthetics increased the coupling between delta and low gamma (p < 0.0001) as well as between theta and low gamma (p < 0.0001) oscillations, which returned to baseline waking levels during the post-anesthetic recovery period. In addition, a reversible reduction in high gamma power (p < 0.0001) was a consistent change during anesthesia induced by all three agents. The changes in delta-high gamma and theta-high gamma PAC as well as power spectral changes in delta, theta, and low gamma bandwidths did not show a uniform response across the three anesthetics. These results encourage the study of alternative PAC patterns as drug-invariant markers of general anesthesia in humans.
DEVS/SOA: A Cross-Platform Framework for Net-centric Modeling and Simulation in DEVS Unified Process

Discrete Event Specification (DEVS) environments are implemented over middleware systems such as HLA, RMI, CORBA and others. DEVS exhibits concepts of systems theory and modeling and supports capturing the system behavior from the physical and behavioral perspectives. Further, they are implemented using object-oriented languages like Java and C++. This research work uses the Java platform to implement DEVS over a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) framework. Called the DEVS/SOA, the framework supports a development and testing environment known as DEVS Unified Process that is built on a model continuity-based lifecycle methodology. DEVS Unified Process allows DEVS-based Modeling and Simulation (M&S) over net-centric platforms using DEVS/SOA. This framework also provides the crucial feature of run-time composability of coupled systems using SOA. We describe the architecture and designs of the server and the client. The client application communicates with multiple servers hosting DEVS simulation services. These simulation services are developed using the proposed symmetrical services architecture wherein the server can act as both a service provider and a service consumer contrary to the unidirectional client—server paradigm. We also discuss how this services-based architecture provides solutions for cross-platform distributed M&S. We demonstrate the DEVS/SOA framework with a scenario of Joint Close Air Support specified in Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). We also provide a real-world application of network health monitoring using DEVS/SOA-layered architectural framework.
Secretion of nascent lipoproteins and apolipoproteins by perfused livers of normal and cholesterol-fed guinea pigs.

Triglyceride-rich very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) are the major lipoprotein in perfusates of normal guinea pig livers. Their component apoprotein B is mainly B-100 together with some B-95. This apoprotein is actively synthesized, as are C apoproteins and small amounts of apoprotein E. Only trace amounts of intermediate density lipoproteins (IDL, 1.015 < d < 1.05 g/ml) are found in perfusates, but appreciable amounts of low density lipoproteins (LDL, 1.05 < d < 1.10 g/ml) accumulate. These LDL are not newly synthesized, but rather appear to be gradually washed out of the liver. High density lipoproteins (HDL, 1.10 < d < 1.21 g/ml) both discoidal and spheroidal, also accumulate, which contain newly synthesized apoproteins A-I, E and C. Fatty livers of guinea pigs fed cholesterol secrete less VLDL and more IDL than normals, but the combined amount of protein is unchanged. These lipoproteins contain newly synthesized apoprotein B, are enriched in cholesteryl esters and newly synthesized apoprotein E, and have reduced electrophoretic mobilities, making them resemble remnants. Large amounts of LDL also accumulate in perfusates of livers from cholesterol-fed animals, much of which does not appear to be newly synthesized, as judged from single pass perfusions. However, the LDL fraction is complex and includes particles that contain newly synthesized apoprotein B. Thus, these livers appear to secrete a spectrum of cholesteryl ester-rich particles, containing newly synthesized apoproteins B and E that span the density range of VLDL, IDL, and LDL. Livers of cholesterol-fed guinea pigs secrete large amounts of discoidal HDL with a free cholesterol-phospholipid molar ratio of 2:1. Accumulation of protein (almost entirely newly synthesized apoprotein E) in HDL is increased 25-fold over that in perfusates from normal guinea pig livers. -Guo, L.S. S. , R.L. Hamilton, R. Ostwald, and R. J. Havel. Secretion of nascent lipoproteins and apolipoproteins by perfused livers of normal and cholesterol-fed guinea pigs.
Building applied natural language generation systems

In this article, we give an overview of Natural Language Generation (NLG) from an applied system-building perspective. The article includes a discussion of when NLG techniques should be used; suggestions for carrying out requirements analyses; and a description of the basic NLG tasks of content determination, discourse planning, sentence aggregation, lexicalization, referring expression generation, and linguistic realisation. Throughout, the emphasis is on established techniques that can be used to build simple but practical working systems now. We also provide pointers to techniques in the literature that are appropriate for more complicated scenarios.
Microsomal Prostaglandin E2 Synthase-1 Modulates the Response to Vascular Injury

Background— Microsomal (m) prostaglandin (PG) E2 synthase (S)-1 catalyzes the formation of PGE2 from PGH2, a cyclooxygenase product that is derived from arachidonic acid. Previous studies in mice suggest that targeting mPGES-1 may be less likely to cause hypertension or thrombosis than cyclooxygenase-2–selective inhibition or deletion in vivo. Indeed, deletion of mPGES-1 retards atherogenesis and angiotensin II–induced aortic aneurysm formation. The role of mPGES-1 in the response to vascular injury is unknown. Methods and Results— Mice were subjected to wire injury of the femoral artery. Both neointimal area and vascular stenosis were significantly reduced 4 weeks after injury in mPGES-1 knockout mice compared with wild-type controls (65.6±5.7 versus 37.7±5.1×103 pixel area and 70.5±13.4% versus 47.7±17.4%, respectively; P<0.01). Induction of tenascin-C, a proproliferative and promigratory extracellular matrix protein, after injury was attenuated in the knockouts. Consistent with in vivo rediversion of PG biosynthesis, mPGES-1–deleted vascular smooth muscle cells generated less PGE2 but more PGI2 and expressed reduced tenascin-C compared with wild-type cells. Both suppression of PGE2 and augmentation of PGI2 attenuate tenascin-C expression and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration in vitro. Conclusions— Deletion of mPGES-1 in mice attenuates neointimal hyperplasia after vascular injury, in part by regulating tenascin-C expression. This raises for consideration the therapeutic potential of mPGES-1 inhibitors as adjuvant therapy for percutaneous coronary intervention.
Influence of Peak Selection Methods on Onset Detection

Finding the starting time of musical notes in an audio signal, that is, to perform onset detection, is an important task as this information can be used as the basis for high-level musical processing tasks. Many different methods exist to perform onset detection. However their results depend on a Peak Selection step that makes the decision whether an onset is present at some point in time. In this paper we review a number of different Peak Selection methods and compare their influence in the performance of different onset detection methods and on 4 distinct onset classes. Our results show that the post-processing method used deeply influences both positively and negatively the results obtained.
Input–Output Based Fault Estimation for T-S Fuzzy Systems With Local Nonlinear Parts

This paper is concerned with the problem of fault estimation for a class of Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems with local nonlinear parts and actuator faults. The system matrices in consideration contain unknown components, whereas in most of the literature, the system matrices are required to be known completely. An input–output based fault-estimation approach for the fuzzy system is proposed, by which, the estimation error for time-varying faults can asymptotically converge to zero in the absence of disturbances. The estimation convergence is proved theoretically. Based on the information of fault estimation, the design of fault-tolerant controller can be updated online to compensate the fault effect on systems so as to maintain the original performance of the system. Numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness and merits of the proposed method.
Emotions: from psychological theories to logical formalization and implementation in a BDI agent

This thesis is about emotions, and more particularly about their logical formalization. The first part is dedicated to the state of the art, from the point of view of both psychology (history of theories of emotions) and computer science (presentation of emotional agents and their applications). The second part is dedicated to the logical formalisation of emotions. It introduces our logical framework, exposes and argues the formal definitions of twenty emotions, and proves some of their properties. Finally the last part is dedicated to practical applications and continuation prospects of this work. Such a work offers interesting contributions : it offers to the agent community a formal model of a great number of emotions; it shows the interest of BDI logics; and it opens research prospects about the dynamics of emotions and their influence on the behaviour of agents, a field not much explored for now.
High-efficiency X-Band MMIC GaN power amplifiers operating as rectifiers

This paper presents a performance evaluation of GaN X-Band power amplifiers operating as self-synchronous rectifiers. Two single-stage MMIC power amplifiers are characterized under continuous wave conditions at 10.1GHz. One PA is designed with a single 10 × 100μm HEMT in a 0. 15μm GaN process, while the other contains two 10 × 100μm power-combined devices. The MMICs exhibit 67% and 56% power added efficiency at VDD = 20V in deep class-AB bias, respectively. In rectifier mode, biased in class-C, the same MMICs show a RF-to-DC efficiency of 64%. The output powers of the two MMIC PAs are around 3.2W. In rectifier mode, the gate DC bias and the load-pull determined RF gate impedance are set for optimal efficiency. The DC load does not affect the efficiency substantially, and can be chosen for a desired voltage or current. The paper demonstrates that high-power efficient GaN rectifiers can be achieved by designing high-efficiency PAs at least up to X-band.