Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Space division multiple access (SDMA) for robust ad hoc vehicle communication networks

Proposes a robust, self-organizing architecture for mobile ad hoc networks. The network architecture, space division multiple access (SDMA), relies on user location information and provides users access to the communication channel based on their location. SDMA divides the geographical space, where users are located, into smaller spaces. The key element of the design is a one-to-one map between the space division and the bandwidth division of time slots, frequency division, etc. Therefore, SDMA is compatible with any multiple access scheme such as TDMA, FDMA, and CDMA. The system requirement is the user information of its location and a priori knowledge of the one-to-one map of location to the bandwidth division. The scheme is self-starting and self-maintaining. It provides collision-free access to the communication medium for the users and facilitates communication address resolution amongst the users. In addition, SDMA guarantees delay-bounded communication. The paper presents the SDMA architecture and discusses its advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, enhanced SDMA is suggested to increase bandwidth efficiency.
The clinical value of HPV genotyping in triage of women with high‐risk‐HPV‐positive self‐samples

Cytology alone, or combined with HPV16/18 genotyping, might be an acceptable method for triage in hrHPV‐cervical cancer screening. Previously studied HPV‐genotype based triage algorithms are based on cytology performed without knowledge of hrHPV status. The aim of this study was to explore the value of hrHPV genotyping combined with cytology as triage tool for hrHPV‐positive women. 520 hrHPV‐positive women were included from a randomised controlled self‐sampling trial on screening non‐attendees (PROHTECT‐3B). Eighteen baseline triage strategies were evaluated for cytology and hrHPV genotyping (Roche Cobas 4800) on physician‐sampled triage material. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), referral rate, and number of referrals needed to diagnose (NRND) were calculated for CIN2+ and CIN3+. A triage strategy was considered acceptable if the NPV for CIN3+ was ≥98%, combined with maintenance or improvement of sensitivity and an increase in specificity in reference to the comparator, being cytology with a threshold of atypical cells of undetermined significance (ASC‐US). Three triage strategies met the criteria: HPV16+ and/or ≥LSIL; HPV16+ and/or ≥HSIL; (HPV16+ and/or HPV18+) and/or ≥HSIL. Combining HPV16+ and/or ≥HSIL yielded the highest specificity (74.9%, 95% CI 70.5–78.9), with a sensitivity (94.4%, 95% CI 89.0–97.7) similar to the comparator (93.5%, 95% CI 87.7–97.1), and a decrease in referral rate from 52.2% to 39.5%. In case of prior knowledge of hrHPV presence, triage by cytology testing can be improved by adjusting its threshold, and combining it with HPV16/18 genotyping. These strategies improve the referral rate and specificity for detecting CIN3+ lesions, while maintaining adequate sensitivity.
The Active Site Sulfenic Acid Ligand in Nitrile Hydratases Can Function as a Nucleophile

Nitrile hydratase (NHase) catalyzes the hydration of nitriles to their corresponding commercially valuable amides at ambient temperatures and physiological pH. Several reaction mechanisms have been proposed for NHase enzymes; however, the source of the nucleophile remains a mystery. Boronic acids have been shown to be potent inhibitors of numerous hydrolytic enzymes due to the open shell of boron, which allows it to expand from a trigonal planar (sp2) form to a tetrahedral form (sp3). Therefore, we examined the inhibition of the Co-type NHase from Pseudonocardia thermophila JCM 3095 (PtNHase) by boronic acids via kinetics and X-ray crystallography. Both 1-butaneboronic acid (BuBA) and phenylboronic acid (PBA) function as potent competitive inhibitors of PtNHase. X-ray crystal structures for BuBA and PBA complexed to PtNHase were solved and refined at 1.5, 1.6, and 1.2 Å resolution. The resulting PtNHase–boronic acid complexes represent a “snapshot” of reaction intermediates and implicate the cysteine-sulfenic acid ligand as the catalytic nucleophile, a heretofore unknown role for the αCys113–OH sulfenic acid ligand. Based on these data, a new mechanism of action for the hydration of nitriles by NHase is presented.
A Robust Parallel Preconditioner for Indefinite Systems Using Hierarchical Matrices and Randomized Sampling

We present the design and implementation of a parallel and fully algebraic preconditioner based on an approximate sparse factorization using low-rank matrix compression. The sparse factorization uses a multifrontal algorithm with fill-in occurring in dense frontal matrices. These frontal matrices are approximated as hierarchically semi-separable matrices, which are constructed using a randomized sampling technique. The resulting preconditioner has (close to) optimal complexity in terms of flops and memory usage for many discretized partial differential equations. We illustrate the robustness and performance of this new preconditioner for a number of unstructured grid problems. Initial results show that the rank-structured preconditioner could be a viable alternative to algebraic multigrid and incomplete LU, for instance. Our implementation uses MPI and OpenMP and supports real and complex arithmetic and 32 and 64 bit integers. We present a detailed performance analysis. The code is released as the STRUMPACK library with a BSD license, and a PETSc interface is available to allow for easy integration in existing applications.
The user interface in text retrieval systems

Ever since the advent of on-line computer systems, the development of the user interface has been a key issue in research and applications. The main function of the user interface is to mediate between the system operator and the computer programs that run the information systems.The nature of the interface required by information systems and the functions with which it must provide the user has been studied. It can be said that there are certain rules to be adhered to in the design of any information system, and that there are certain rules characteristic of specific information systems only. (MicrosoftG, 1995)(Galitz, 1994) (MicrosoftU, 1995) (Shneiderman, 1998). The aim of this article is to define the user interface characteristic of text retrieval systems, which generally differ in nature from other information systems.
Fabrication and optimization performance for treatment of ship oily water by nanocomposite membranes using Taguchi method

The objectives of this study were to optimize of ultrafiltration (UF) process using novel nanocomposite membrane for oily water treatment in cruise-ship. Three nanocomposite membranes consisted of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer, Zeolite Socony Mobil–5 (ZSM5) nanofiller, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidion (NMP) polymer solvent have been produced which was denoted as M0, M1 and M2. N-s- (aminoethyl)-v-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (AEAPTMS) was used to modify ZSM5 to enhance the dispersion of nanocrystals in the polymeric solution. Nanocomposite structures have been characterized via field emission scanning electron microscopes (FESEM) combined with Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and contact angle. Taguchi method was employed to design experiments using three different parameters (A: membrane type, B: temperature, C: pressure) and to optimize the process performance via single response (Y0: selection parameter, ‘SP’). Based on the Taguchi design and optimization, a significant model in analysis of variance (ANOVA) was predicted with the highest response (Y0 = 65.22 L.m-2.h-1). Taguchi also predicted an optimal operation condition which has achieved the highest oil rejection (99.7%) and promising permeation flux (105.89 L.m-2.h-1) by using nanocomposite membrane with 15 gram of PVDF/ 1 gram of M-ZSM5, at temperature 55oC and 2 bar pressure gauge.
A study of an evaluation methodology for unbuffered multistage interconnection networks

Interconnection network performance is a key factor when constructing parallel computers. The choice of an interconnection network used in a parallel computer depends on a large number of performance factors which are very often application dependent. We give the outline of a performance evaluation and comparison methodology using what we think of as the most important parameters to be considered when solving such a problem. This methodology is applied on a new interconnection network called MCRB network and on Omega network.
Effects of Feature Trimming on Encryption Key Stability for an ICmetric System

The stable reproduction of an encryption key under potentially varying operating conditions is a fundamental requirement of any encryption key generation system. This paper examines aspects of the generation of encryption keys based on measurable features derived from characteristics of investigated electronic system with a view to determining whether such encryption key generation is sufficiently stable. Specifically, it addresses the effect on encryption key stability of removing unstable contributions to the key generation process, a technique known as feature trimming.
The relationship between cerebral infarction and angiographic characteristics in childhood moyamoya disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In childhood-onset moyamoya disease, the angiographic disease process of stenoocclusive lesions is progressive, and cerebral infarctions often develop as a result of ischemia. Our purpose was to determine how the severity of stenoocclusive lesions in the anterior and posterior circulations affects the distribution of cerebral infarction in patients with childhood-onset moyamoya disease. METHODS In 69 patients with childhood-onset moyamoya disease, angiograms were reviewed for stenoocclusive lesions, and CT scans, MR images, or both were reviewed for the sites and extent of cerebral infarction. The relationship between the angiographic and CT/MR findings was examined. RESULTS The prevalence and degree of stenoocclusive lesions of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) significantly correlated with the extent of lesions around the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery (ICA). The prevalence of infarction significantly correlated with the degree of stenoocclusive changes of both the ICA and PCA. Infarctions tended to be distributed in the anterior borderzone in less-advanced cases, while in more advanced cases lesions were additionally found posteriorly in the territory of the middle cerebral artery, the posterior borderzone, and the PCA territory. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that progressive changes of the anterior and posterior circulations are associated with the distribution of cerebral infarction, culminating in a patchily disseminated or honeycomb pattern of infarction on CT and MR studies in late stages of the disease.
A Mechanism for ST Depression Associated with Contiguous Subendocardial Ischemia Short title: Mechanism for ST Depression

Mechanism for ST Depression. Introduction: A mechanism is proposed for ST depression that arises on the epicardial surface above the border between normal and ischemic tissue. Depression is caused by current that flows in a transmural loop that begins and ends at the lateral boundary between healthy and ischemic tissue and that passes through the transmural boundary between healthy and ischemic tissue. The result is ST depression at the epicardium above the lateral boundary. The size and direction of current flow is dictated by differences in the magnitude and orientation of anisotropic conductivity between those boundaries. Methods and Results: Computer simulations verified and quantified the relationship of ST depression and these conductivity differences. We have used computer simulations based on an anatomically accurate, anisotropic model of canine ventricles and a bidomain representation of the effects of ischemia to verify the biophysical basis of this mechanism. Conclusion: ST depression at the epicardium appears above a lateral boundary between healthy and ischemic tissue.
Pediatric brainstem gangliogliomas show overexpression of neuropeptide prepronociceptin (PNOC) by microarray and immunohistochemistry

Gangliogliomas (GGs) primary to brainstem are rare, with the overwhelming majority of GGs occurring in supratentorial, especially temporal lobe, locations. A less favorable prognosis exists for brainstem GGs, despite their usually identical WHO grade I status. Few large clinical series, and limited biological information, exists on these tumors, especially gene expression.
A Scheme for Fast Application Identification Transferring in Mobile Networks

The skyrocketing consumer demand for rich applications and data-heavy services with higher QoE(Quality of Experience) requirement push greater pressure on Mobile Networks. Simply adding more bandwidth is inadequate. Application intelligence based on application identification is one of the most effective technologies to relieve the pressure by prioritizing packets. In mobile networks, application identification functions are deployed in different NEs(Network Elements). Re-identification usually occurs when a user roams in current network architecture. An application identification function on new attached NE inspects flows again due to the flows are still unidentified to it. The inspection is very computation consuming and it is obviously contradictive to QoE. This paper appears a scheme to avoid re-identification procedure by exchanging application identification information between NEs. The information includes detailed protocol information, application information and payload content information. Finally, this paper presents a GTP based exemplary implementation easy to deploy.
Vision: the case for cellular small cells for cloudlets

Today's cellular networks are built with``macro cell'' basestations connected to the Internet via a rigid, complicated backhaul. Even with state-of-art technologies like LTE, users get limited throughput and high latency, with high variance. Performance enhancing IP boxes are deployed in the cellular operator's datacenters, far from the user. As a result, the most compelling cloudlet applications are difficult to realize on such networks and cloudlet researchers have thus far focused on Wi-Fi networks only. We argue that the cloudlet community should consider small cell networks in addition to Wi-Fi networks. Small cells, such as femtocells and picocells, are relatively new additions to the cellular standards. By reducing the cell size compared to the traditional macro cells, they increase spatial reuse of precious licensed frequencies. Users get higher bandwidth and lower latency, with relatively less variance. This architecture, where small cells are deployed simply with power and Ethernet connectivity, lends itself well to cloudlet augmentation. In this position paper, we describe why deployed macro cell basestations are unsuitable for cloudlet deployment. In contrast, we describe why a small cell architecture is amenable for cloudlet deployments. Our experience from operating a small cell testbed in licensed frequencies matches that reported by equipment vendors. The applications we care about require high throughput and low latency. In a cellular network this can be achieved today by augmenting small cells with powerful cloudlets.
Decoding Movement Goals from the Fronto-Parietal Reach Network

During reach planning, fronto-parietal brain areas need to transform sensory information into a motor code. It is debated whether these areas maintain a sensory representation of the visual cue or a motor representation of the upcoming movement goal. Here, we present results from a delayed pro-/anti-reach task which allowed for dissociating the position of the visual cue from the reach goal. In this task, the visual cue was combined with a context rule (pro vs. anti) to infer the movement goal. Different levels of movement goal specification during the delay were obtained by presenting the context rule either before the delay together with the visual cue (specified movement goal) or after the delay (underspecified movement goal). By applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA), we demonstrate movement goal encoding in the left dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and bilateral superior parietal lobule (SPL) when the reach goal is specified. This suggests that fronto-parietal reach regions (PRRs) maintain a prospective motor code during reach planning. When the reach goal is underspecified, only area PMd but not SPL represents the visual cue position indicating an incomplete state of sensorimotor integration. Moreover, this result suggests a potential role of PMd in movement goal selection.
Extrinsic Calibration of Camera Networks Based on Pedestrians

In this paper, we propose a novel extrinsic calibration method for camera networks by analyzing tracks of pedestrians. First of all, we extract the center lines of walking persons by detecting their heads and feet in the camera images. We propose an easy and accurate method to estimate the 3D positions of the head and feet w.r. t. a local camera coordinate system from these center lines. We also propose a RANSAC-based orthogonal Procrustes approach to compute relative extrinsic parameters connecting the coordinate systems of cameras in a pairwise fashion. Finally, we refine the extrinsic calibration matrices using a method that minimizes the reprojection error. While existing state-of-the-art calibration methods explore epipolar geometry and use image positions directly, the proposed method first computes 3D positions per camera and then fuses the data. This results in simpler computations and a more flexible and accurate calibration method. Another advantage of our method is that it can also handle the case of persons walking along straight lines, which cannot be handled by most of the existing state-of-the-art calibration methods since all head and feet positions are co-planar. This situation often happens in real life.
Curcumin Protects Intestinal Mucosal Barrier Function of Rat Enteritis via Activation of MKP-1 and Attenuation of p38 and NF-κB Activation

Background Intestinal mucosa barrier (IMB) dysfunction results in many notorious diseases for which there are currently few effective treatments. We studied curcumin's protective effect on IMB and examined its mechanism by using methotrexate (MTX) induced rat enteritis model and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treated cell death model. Methodology/Principal Findings Curcumin was intragastrically administrated from the first day, models were made for 7 days. Cells were treated with curcumin for 30 min before exposure to LPS. Rat intestinal mucosa was collected for evaluation of pathological changes. We detected the activities of D-lactate and diamine oxidase (DAO) according to previous research and measured the levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) by colorimetric method. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) were determined by RT-PCR and IL-10 production was determined by ELISA. We found Curcumin decreased the levels of D-lactate, DAO, MPO, ICAM-1, IL-1β and TNF-α, but increased the levels of IL-10 and SOD in rat models. We further confirmed mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) was activated but phospho-p38 was inhibited by curcumin by western blot assay. Finally, NF-κB translocation was monitored by immunofluorescent staining. We showed that curcumin repressed I-κB and interfered with the translocation of NF-κB into nucleus. Conclusions/Significance The effect of curcumin is mediated by the MKP-1-dependent inactivation of p38 and inhibition of NF-κB-mediated transcription. Curcumin, with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities may be used as an effective reagent for protecting intestinal mucosa barrier and other related intestinal diseases.
Knock-Out of the Neural Death Effector Domain Protein PEA-15 Demonstrates That Its Expression Protects Astrocytes from TNFα-Induced Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a very general phenomenon, but only a few reports concern astrocytes. Indeed, astrocytes express receptors for tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, a cytokine demonstrated on many cells and tissues to mediate apoptosis after recruitment of adaptor proteins containing a death effector domain (DED). PEA-15 is a DED-containing protein prominently expressed in the CNS and particularly abundant in astrocytes. This led us to investigate if PEA-15 expression could be involved in astrocytic protection against deleterious effects of TNF. In vitro assays evidence that PEA-15 may bind to DED-containing protein FADD and caspase-8 known to be apical adaptors of the TNF apoptotic signaling. After generation of PEA-15 null mutant mice, our results demonstrate that PEA-15 expression increases astrocyte survival after exposure to TNF.
M&M: A Passive Toolkit for Measuring, Correlating, and Tracking Path Characteristics

This paper presents MM correlate different types of measurement of the same path, producing new kinds of results; and because MMmultiQ additionally discovers multiple bottlenecks and their orderings. We also use our toolkit to perform several measurement studies using a reservoir of 375 million traced packets spanning the last two years. Among the results of these studies are that bottleneck capacity on our traced links has gone up by around an order of magnitude from 2002 to 2004, and that differences in levels of statistical multiplexing on 10 Mb/s and 100 Mb/s bottleneck links result in flows over those links having similar fair-share bandwidths.
Helping Novice Programmers to Bootstrap in the Cloud: Incorporating Support for Computational Thinking into the Game Design Process

Game design environments are traditionally used as means for engaging non-programmers in the learning process. However, these environments lack specific support for teaching computational thinking to novices. Typically, such skills are acquired in ad hoc practical sessions with supervision provided by teachers or peers. The usual scenario is where a teacher guides the students in solving these problems during a game design session. In informal learning settings, step-by-step tutorials for creating existing games are used to compensate for the lack of computer support for solving design and computational problems. In this paper we suggest a game design process that combines support for computational thinking with tool usage, by identifying the most common computational thinking problems and providing a generic solution to them. We have evaluated our solution in the context of AgentWeb, an online cloud-based game design environment for novices. We discuss how to incorporate suggested computational thinking solutions as computer assistant into the game design user interface.