Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Verifying a high-performance crash-safe file system using a tree specification

DFSCQ is the first file system that (1) provides a precise specification for fsync and fdatasync, which allow applications to achieve high performance and crash safety, and (2) provides a machine-checked proof that its implementation meets this specification. DFSCQ's specification captures the behavior of sophisticated optimizations, including log-bypass writes, and DFSCQ's proof rules out some of the common bugs in file-system implementations despite the complex optimizations. The key challenge in building DFSCQ is to write a specification for the file system and its internal implementation without exposing internal file-system details. DFSCQ introduces a metadata-prefix specification that captures the properties of fsync and fdatasync, which roughly follows the behavior of Linux ext4. This specification uses a notion of tree sequences---logical sequences of file-system tree states---for succinct description of the possible states after a crash and to describe how data writes can be reordered with respect to metadata updates. This helps application developers prove the crash safety of their own applications, avoiding application-level bugs such as forgetting to invoke fsync on both the file and the containing directory. An evaluation shows that DFSCQ achieves 103 MB/s on large file writes to an SSD and durably creates small files at a rate of 1,618 files per second. This is slower than Linux ext4 (which achieves 295 MB/s for large file writes and 4,977 files/s for small file creation) but much faster than two recent verified file systems, Yggdrasil and FSCQ. Evaluation results from application-level benchmarks, including TPC-C on SQLite, mirror these microbenchmarks.
Urocortin 3 regulates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and energy homeostasis

Urocortin 3 (Ucn 3), a member of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family of peptides, is strongly expressed in mammalian pancreatic β cells and has been shown to stimulate insulin secretion. Here we report the investigation of the hypothesis that endogenous Ucn 3 regulates insulin secretion, particularly in the presence of nutrient excess. Secretion of Ucn 3-like immunoreactivity from cultured β cells was stimulated by high glucose and insulin secretagogs such as GLP-1; furthermore, 5 pancreatic Ucn 3 mRNA levels in vivo were increased during the positive energy balance caused by high-fat diet and by the absence of leptin. Immunoneutralization of Ucn 3 or pharmacologic blockade of its receptor, the type 2 CRF receptor (CRFR2), attenuated high but not low glucose-induced insulin secretion from isolated islets in vitro. Cultured islets isolated from Ucn 3-null mice also secreted less insulin in response to high glucose concentrations. Consistently, peripheral injection of a selective CRFR2 antagonist before the administration of a glucose challenge significantly attenuated glucose-induced insulin secretion in vivo. Ucn 3-null mice were relatively protected from the hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance, hepatic steatosis, and hypertriglyceridemia induced by high-fat diet. Additionally, we found that aged Ucn 3-null mice maintained better glucose tolerance than age-matched wild-type littermates. These results suggest that endogenous Ucn 3 in the pancreas is induced under excessive caloric conditions and acts locally to augment insulin production, which in the long-term may contribute to reduced insulin sensitivity and harmful metabolic consequences.
Diurnal variations in the waking EEG: comparisons with sleep latencies and subjective alertness

Daytime measures of sleep latency and subjective alertness do not correlate with one another, suggesting that they assess different aspects of alertness. In addition, their typical diurnal variations show very different time courses. Quantitative analysis of the waking electroencephalogram (EEG) has been proposed as an objective measure of alertness, but it is not clear how it compares with other measures. In this study, the waking EEG was measured in the daytime to determine the presence of diurnal variations in the activity of standard frequency bands and to compare these variations with the temporal patterns typical of sleep propensity and subjective alertness. Alertness was evaluated in four men and 12 women, aged 19–33 y. Assessments were conducted every 2 h, from 10.00 to 24.00, in the following order: a visual analogue scale of alertness, a waking EEG recording and a sleep latency test. The waking EEG was recorded with eyes open. For each recording session, 32–60 s of artefact‐free signals were selected from the C3/A2 derivation, then subjected to amplitude spectral analysis. Four EEG frequency bands showed significant diurnal variations: delta, theta, sigma and beta1. None of these variations showed a significant correlation with the temporal patterns of sleep latencies or subjective alertness. At the individual level, however, theta band activity increased when subjective alertness decreased, suggesting that the theta band can be used to monitor variations in alertness in a given individual, even at the moderate levels of sleepiness experienced during the daytime.
A treatment of magnetized ferrites using the FDTD method

The finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method is extended to include magnetized ferrites. The treatment of the ferrite material is based on the equation of motion, using Gilbert's approximation of the damping term. The validity of the formulation is verified by applying it to the calculation of propagation constants in waveguides containing ferrites with transverse magnetization. The results for a rectangular waveguide filled with ferrites and those for a rectangular waveguide loaded with a centered ferrite slab are compared with the exact results, showing good agreement. <<ETX>>
Cardiac PET imaging of blood flow, metabolism, and function in normal and infarcted rats

The rat heart is an excellent model for the investigation of cardiac physiology and metabolism. It has been used extensively for ex vivo studies of the normal heart as well as for the study of various heart diseases. With the advent of dedicated high-resolution small animal PET scanners, it is now possible to transpose many of the cardiac studies routinely used in humans to the rat. These include the in vivo measurement of myocardial blood flow, metabolism, and function. Because these techniques are noninvasive, the same animal can be imaged repetitively, thus allowing for follow-up studies of disease progression and for the assessment of new therapeutic methods. In this work, we report on cardiac studies performed in normal and diseased rats using the Sherbrooke avalanche photodiode PET scanner, a small animal PET imaging device achieving 14 /spl mu/l volumetric spatial resolution with excellent image signal-to-noise ratio. The system also features flexible list-mode data acquisition, which allows dynamic studies to be resampled as desired for kinetic modeling. These cardiac PET imaging methods were used for the follow-up of infarcted rats submitted to experimental intramyocardial revascularization therapy.
Inhibition of Adenovirus DNA Synthesis In Vitro by Sera from Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Sera containing antinuclear antibodies from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and related disorders were tested for their effect on the synthesis of adenovirus (Ad) DNA in an in vitro replication system. After being heated at 60°C for 1 h, some sera from patients with SLE inhibited Ad DNA synthesis by 60 to 100%. Antibodies to double-stranded DNA were present in 15 of the 16 inhibitory sera, and inhibitory activity copurified with anti-double-stranded DNA in the immunoglobulin G fraction. These SLE sera did not inhibit the DNA polymerases α, β, γ and had no antibody to the 72,000-dalton DNA-binding protein necessary for Ad DNA synthesis. The presence of antibodies to single-stranded DNA and a variety of saline-extractable antigens (Sm, Ha, nRNP, and rRNP) did not correlate with SLE serum inhibitory activity. Methods previously developed for studying the individual steps in Ad DNA replication were used to determine the site of inhibition by the SLE sera that contained antibody to double-stranded DNA. Concentrations of the SLE inhibitor that decreased the elongation of Ad DNA by greater than 85% had no effect on either the initiation of Ad DNA synthesis or the polymerization of the first 26 deoxyribonucleotides.
Factor V Gene Mutation Is a Risk Factor for Cerebral Venous Thrombosis

Summary To evaluate the association between coagulation defects and cerebral venous thrombosis, a case-control study was conducted in 25 patients who had no autoimmune, neoplastic or infectious disease and 75 healthy individuals. There were no patients with deficiency of protein C or protein S. Four had resistance to activated protein C (APC) and one had APC resistance associated with antithrombin deficiency. APC resistance was investigated by DNA analysis, and diagnosed by the presence of a point mutation in the factor V gene, which predicts replacement of Arg506 with Gin at one of the two APC cleavage sites in activated factor V. The prevalence of APC resistance was 20% in patients and 2.7% in controls. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.01) and the odds ratio was 9.1. A circumstantial factor predisposing to cerebral venous thrombosis (such as oral contraceptive intake, pregnancy, puerperium, trauma or prolonged immobilization) was reported in 72% of cases. In conclusion, APC resistance is the most frequent coagulation abnormality associated with cerebral venous thrombosis.
Incremental potential field based haptic guidance for medical simulation

Haptics provide an effective means to improve the realism of virtual worlds. It allows a user to feel either reaction forces from virtual interactions or reaction forces reflected from a remote site during a bilateral teleoperation task. With our proposed haptic guidance method based on an incremental potential field, a user is physically guided through the ideal motion path by a haptic interfacing device, giving the subject a kinesthetic understanding of the task. This is used in our simulation of tracheal reconstruction surgery to investigate the feasibility of deploying new tracheal implants. The proposed method is also applicable for edutainment demonstrated by a simple interactive simulation with a “Rubber Duck”. Both guidance and reaction forces are modeled in our simulation system.
Tonic opioid inhibition of the subiculo‐accumbens pathway

There is evidence to suggest that medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAS) should be sensitive to opiate compounds. However, neuronal responses in the NAS evoked by fimbria stimulation (F‐D) are insensitive to systemically or iontophoretically administered morphine. The hypothesis of this study was that fimbria‐evoked NAS responses may fail to demonstrate sensitivity to morphine because they are under tonic opioid inhibition and can't be further inhibited by opiates. If correct, then pharmacological inhibition of opioid actions on these NAS neuronal responses should result in an increase of response to fimbria stimulation. The effects of systemic and iontophoretic administrations of naloxone on NAS responses evoked by fimbria stimulation were observed. Systemically and locally administered naloxone selectively increased the excitability of accumbens single‐unit responses to fimbria stimulation. Conversely, systemic or iontophoretic administration of morphine was without effect on the same types of NAS responses. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that a tonic opioid inhibition may regulate this pathway. In contrast, naloxone and morphine effect other NAS circuit responses differently than F‐D NAS responses. In some cases naloxone and morphine tests have been conducted on different evoked responses from the same neuron. Those results have shown that different responses from the same cell may be differentially affected. Consequently, opioid modulation of activity in the NAS is probably pathway‐specific rather than neuron‐specific. Synapse 41:71–85, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Social Marketing Analysis of 2 Years of Hand Hygiene Promotion

Objective. To assess published hand hygiene behavioral interventions that employed a social marketing framework and to recommend improvements to future interventions. Methods. We performed a systematic literature review by searching the PubMed database and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature for published articles about hand hygiene behavioral interventions in healthcare facilities, schools, and community settings. Our analysis included articles that describe multifaceted interventions and evaluated them with predefined social marketing benchmark criteria. Results. Of 53 interventions analyzed in this review, 16 (30.2%) employed primary formative audience research, 5 (9.4%) incorporated social or behavioral theories, 27 (50.9%) employed segmentation and targeting of the audience, 44 (83.0%) used components of the “marketing mix,” 3 (5.7%) considered the influence of competing behaviors, 7 (13.2%) cultivated relationships with the target audience, and 15 (28.3%) provided simple behavioral messages. Thirty-five (66.0%) of the interventions demonstrated a significant improvement in performance, but only 21 (39.6%) were considered to have a strong evaluative design. The median duration of the interventions was 8.0 months. Conclusions. From a social marketing perspective, the promotion of hand hygiene could be improved in several ways. The effectiveness of social marketing in hand hygiene promotion should be tested in future interventions.
Polymorphism at codon 469 of the intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 gene is not associated with sporadic Alzheimer's disease

Activation of microglia is a central part of the chronic inflammatory response in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) is a cell surface receptor that may act in AD to adhere microglia to beta amyloid fibrils within senile plaques. Preliminary evidence in an Italian population indicates that a polymorphism at codon 469 of the ICAM‐1 gene is a predisposing factor for sporadic AD. Another group has been unable to replicate this association in a Finnish population. A case‐control study utilizing a clinically well‐defined group of 283 sporadic AD patients and 283 control subjects was performed to test this association in an ethnically homogeneous population from Spain. The current study does not demonstrate any significant difference in E469K genotype or allele frequencies between AD patients and controls. Our study in the Spanish population argues against the hypothesis that polymorphism at codon 469 of the ICAM‐1 gene is causally related to AD. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Genetic Architecture of Chilling Tolerance in Sorghum Dissected with a Nested Association Mapping Population

Dissecting the genetic architecture of stress tolerance in crops is critical to understand and improve adaptation. In temperate climates, early planting of chilling-tolerant varieties could provide longer growing seasons and drought escape, but chilling tolerance (<15°) is generally lacking in tropical-origin crops. Here we developed a nested association mapping (NAM) population to dissect the genetic architecture of early-season chilling tolerance in the tropical-origin cereal sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench). The NAM resource, developed from reference line BTx623 and three chilling-tolerant Chinese lines, is comprised of 771 recombinant inbred lines genotyped by sequencing at 43,320 single nucleotide polymorphisms. We phenotyped the NAM population for emergence, seedling vigor, and agronomic traits (>75,000 data points from ∼16,000 plots) in multi-environment field trials in Kansas under natural chilling stress (sown 30–45 days early) and normal growing conditions. Joint linkage mapping with early-planted field phenotypes revealed an oligogenic architecture, with 5–10 chilling tolerance loci explaining 20–41% of variation. Surprisingly, several of the major chilling tolerance loci co-localize precisely with the classical grain tannin (Tan1 and Tan2) and dwarfing genes (Dw1 and Dw3) that were under strong directional selection in the US during the 20th century. These findings suggest that chilling sensitivity was inadvertently selected due to coinheritance with desired nontannin and dwarfing alleles. The characterization of genetic architecture with NAM reveals why past chilling tolerance breeding was stymied and provides a path for genomics-enabled breeding of chilling tolerance.
A Parallel Processing of View-Dependent Visual Hull Texture Mapping

In the 3D reconstruction, the visual hull texture mapping is a critical step. The camera-selection-table is proposed for texture mapping quickly. By designing the camera-selection-table, and combined with view-dependent theories, we can choose the right camera for texture mapping, and finally accomplish the reconstruction of the model. By using GPU parallel processing, we can greatly accelerate the process of rebuilding the model, getting better real-time performance. Experimental results show that the algorithm can quickly and accurately realize the texture mapping process and accomplish the reconstruction of the model.
Presenilin expression in the ocular lens.

PURPOSE Mutations in the presenilin (PS) proteins account for the majority of early onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases, apparently by influencing the cleavage of the Alzheimer's disease protein (betaAPP) to form beta-amyloid (Abeta), the major component of plaques in the brains of AD patients. We reported previously that AD proteins are expressed in mammalian lenses, and that betaAPP and Abeta increased in the epithelium and outer cortex of lenses subjected to oxidative stress. This increase paralleled the increase in AP1 DNA binding activity, which has been shown to accompany proliferative oxidative stress responses. Both cataract and AD have been closely linked with oxidative stress; further, both AD and cataract occur in a majority of Down Syndrome individuals. Here we investigate the expression and post-translational processing of PS proteins in the ocular lens. METHODS In situ hybridization, immuohistochemical detection and immunoblot assays were used to localize mRNA and proteins expression products and determine the approximate molecular weights of the resulting proteins in ocular tissue samples. RESULTS We report here that PS protein and mRNA are expressed in lenses, and additionally in the cornea, and are proteolytically processed in a manner similar to that demonstrated in brain tissue. PS proteins and mRNAs were localized to the lens epithelium and outer fibers. This pattern agrees with the localization demonstrated by others for mammalian Notch-like receptor proteins. PS and Notch proteins occur together in developmentally regulated cascades of gene expression found in diverse biological systems. CONCLUSIONS PS expression, together with betaAPP and Abeta proteins, all associated with age-related degenerative disease, are expressed in lens and might contribute to cataractogenesis.
Monitoring Health Equity in the MDGs: A Practical Guide

The health gap between so-called haves and have-nots is a phenomenon documented throughout the world. Health gaps exist between rich and poor well-educated and less-educated rural and urban--even between impoverished and marginalized groups. The initiation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) brings new energy and resources to the development agenda with a strong emphasis on health outcomes. However ensuring that such goals are met in an equitable manner with the worst-off groups benefiting at the same or greater rate as the better-off groups is a central challenge. One place to start is by identifying inequity between different population groups and across different social strata. Inequity baselines can be created to illuminate how different indicators and social stratifiers yield different patterns of disparity. Using population-based surveys such baselines can be established even in data-poor countries. Using survey data from Ghana Ethiopia Kenya Tajikistan Dominican Republic and Cambodia this Guide demonstrates how to establish such a baseline. This Guide is for researchers program staff and policymakers interested in undertaking equity-sensitive monitoring of key health (or other development) indicators within a given country (as opposed to cross-national studies). The Guide provides a method for analyzing indicators across a number of social strata including wealth ethnicity education region sex and geography. The methodology presented includes both single and simultaneous stratification that allow for the generation of fairly simple quick equity-monitoring tools. The mode of presentation is instructional rather than theoretical. Although the examples used here are based on the DHS and MICS the methods can be easily adapted for use with other surveys including those that are not nationally representative. Currently countries lacking vital registration systems rely on population-based surveys for MDG monitoring. As long as a country has at least one population-based household survey containing information on social characteristics as well as health analysts can also use this data source for equity monitoring Furthermore although the Guide is based upon the health MDGs the techniques described herein could be adapted for non-health MDGs (e.g. education water and sanitation) as well as other development goals at the national or subnational level. (excerpt)
Hybrid RSS/AOA emitter location estimation based on least squares and maximum likelihood criteria

Linear least squares (LS) and maximum likelihood (ML) estimators are derived for emitter geolocation using both received signal strength (RSS) and angle of arrival (AOA) information obtained from an heterogeneous sensor array. The results of simulation experiments provide useful insights into the behavior of these hybrid approaches and demonstrate that the use of simple RSS sensors to augment traditional AOA sensors can significantly improve the attainable geolocation accuracy.
Documenting software architectures: views and beyond

This lecture maps the concepts and templates explored in this tutorial with well-known architectural prescriptions, including the 4+1 approach of the Rational Unified Process, the Siemens Four Views approach, and the ANSI/IEEE-1471-2000 recommended best practice for documenting architectures for software-intensive systems. The lecture concludes by re-capping the highlights of the tutorial, and asking for feedback.
A geometric approach to register transfer level satisfiability

In this paper, inequalities of integer hull polyhedrons are used in mixed integer linear programming (MILP) to model the behavior of combinational subsystems, introducing a new solution for the satisfiability (SAT) problem at register transfer level (RTL). Since in these models the vertexes are located at integer positions, they can be used with linear programming (LP) to solve SAT problems. Unfortunately, when combining together several models to make up a compound RTL description, internal vertexes may appear forcing to declare one or more variables as integer. However, the use of these models inside an RTL SAT problem reduces the number of branches needed to solve the whole integer problem. Results show a CPU solution time reduction greater than one order of magnitude, growing with the size of the problem.
The crystal structure of 2-[5-(dimethylamino)naphthalene-1-sulfonamido]phenyl 5-(dimethylamino)naphthalene-1-sulfonate

The complete molecule of the title compound, C30H29N3O5S2, is generated by a crystallographic twofold axis: the O atom and NH group attached to the central benzene ring are statistically disordered. The dihedral angle between the naphthalene ring system and the central benzene ring is 52.99 (6)°, while the pendant naphthalene ring systems subtend a dihedral angle of 68.17 (4)°. An intramolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bond closes an S(6) ring. In the crystal, the molecules are linked by weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.