Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrospun Polyhydroxybutyrate and Poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) Composites as Nanofibrous Scaffolds

Electrospinning can produce nanofibrous scaffolds that mimic the architecture of the extracellular matrix and support cell attachment for tissue engineering applications. In this study, fibrous membranes of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) with various loadings of poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) were successfully prepared by electrospinning. In comparison to PLCL scaffolds, PLCL blends with PHB exhibited more irregular fibre diameter distributions and higher average fibre diameters but there were no significant differences in pore size. PLCL/PHB scaffolds were more hydrophilic (<120°) with significantly reduced tensile strength (ca. 1 MPa) compared to PLCL scaffolds (150.9 ± 2.8° and 5.8 ± 0.5 MPa). Increasing PLCL loading in PHB/PLCL scaffolds significantly increased the extension at break, (4–6-fold). PLCL/PHB scaffolds supported greater adhesion and proliferation of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) than those exhibiting asynchronous growth on culture plates. Mitochondrial activity of cells cultivated on the electrospun blended membranes was enhanced compared to those grown on PLCL and PHB scaffolds (212, 179, and 153%, resp.). Analysis showed that PLCL/PHB nanofibrous membranes promoted cell cycle progression and reduced the onset of necrosis. Thus, electrospun PLCL/PHB composites promoted adhesion and proliferation of OECs when compared to their individual PLCL and PHB components suggesting potential in the repair and engineering of nerve tissue.
Travelling Production Line Problem on Digraphs with Parameterized Triangle Inequality

For a lot of producers have never saved materials of their products for aims of economizing their time and saving costs,but when they have received orders, they will start from their locations with their production lines travel first to the material supply regions, second to the ordered regions, and product their products on the travelling time.Here, we consider their minimum travelling time routing problem, we define the problem as asymmetric travelling production line problem, analyze its NP-Completeness, and design a $\frac{4\gamma^{2}+2\gamma^{3}-4\gamma^{4}}{1-\gamma^{2}}-$ approximation algorithm for it on networks with parameterized $\gamma-$triangle inequality, $\gamma\in(\frac{1}{2},1)$.
A reconfigurable extension to the network interface of beowulf clusters

With a focus on commodity PC systems, Beowulf clusters traditionally lack the cutting edge network architectures, memory subsystems, and processor technologies found in their more expensive supercomputer counterparts. What Beowulf clusters lack in technology, they more than make up for with their significant cost advantage over traditional supercomputers. We propose an architectural extension that adds reconfigurable computing to the network interface of Beowulf clusters. This enhances both the network and processor capabilities of the cluster.Furthermore, for some applications, the proposed extension partially compensates for weaknesses in the PC memory subsystem.We discuss two applications, the 2D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and integer sorting, which benefit from the resulting architecture.
Adaptive Load Balancing in MapReduce using Flubber

MapReduce has emerged as a successful framework for addressing the heavy demand for large-scale analytical data processing, in this peta-byte age. However, while on one hand the sheer size of data makes problems more challenging, the flexibility offered by the MapReduce frameworks on the other hand, makes the learning curve far steeper than expected. The general idea behind a MapReduce framework is to split the task into two components – a Mapper and a Reducer. The mapper executes a user-defined computation on chunks of data and generates the results, while the reducer groups the results together based on a common attribute. Scalability, hence, appears as an inherent trait of the design. A critical parameter in this configuration is the number of reducers required for a given task, and frameworks like Hadoop expect the user to specify this parameter while submitting a job. In this report, we focus on Hadoop and argue that deciding the number of reducers is a non-trivial task, let alone deciding it prior to running the job. To address this issue, we present Flubber – a simple pre-job that can be sandwiched between the original job and Hadoop. With a couple of parameters from the user, it takes a stab at figuring out the ideal number of reducers for the given job.
A Case for Database Engine Research

Research related to database systems has a rich history, going back to almost the origins of computing itself, and the fruits of this research have been an organic part of the computer science curriculum for over four decades now. In the 1960s and 70s, the focus was on developing expressive data models, with the relational model emerging triumphant as the workhorse of enterprise data processing. The following decade of the 80s saw the transaction concept gaining centrestage, the emphasis being on developing efficient mechanisms to provide the powerful ACID semantics that were the hallmark of this concept. Included in its ambit were data recovery mechanisms, concurrency control techniques, indexing strategies, and memory management. Concurrently, the automated identification of efficient execution strategies for declarative query processing gained tremendous ground through the development of dynamic-programming based techniques for navigating the exponentially large strategy search space. The common thread among these various efforts was that they dealt with aspects of the database engine, that is, the components that constitute the database kernel. However, over the last two decades, and especially so in recent years, the research focus of the international community has largely shifted ground to the middleware, encompassing areas such as data mining, data warehousing, information re-
Sequence Polymorphisms Cause Many False cis eQTLs

Many investigations have reported the successful mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for gene expression phenotypes (eQTLs). Local eQTLs, where expression phenotypes map to the genes themselves, are of especially great interest, because they are direct candidates for previously mapped physiological QTLs. Here we show that many mapped local eQTLs in genetical genomics experiments do not reflect actual expression differences caused by sequence polymorphisms in cis-acting factors changing mRNA levels. Instead they indicate hybridization differences caused by sequence polymorphisms in the mRNA region that is targeted by the microarray probes. Many such polymorphisms can be detected by a sensitive and novel statistical approach that takes the individual probe signals into account. Applying this approach to recent mouse and human eQTL data, we demonstrate that indeed many local eQTLs are falsely reported as “cis-acting” or “cis” and can be successfully detected and eliminated with this approach.
Web of Friends- Discovering a Social Network by Mining Data from Instant Messengers

This paper describes the first step in our research on egocentric social networks of users of instant messengers. Experiments with which we are proceeding are based on one of the popular Polish messengers -- Tlen.pl. To collect information about interactions we have used a plugin for Tlen that cooperates with a dedicated server for storing data. Our goal is to find algorithms that will allow classifying the strength of a relationship between two users. Also, we want to answer the question, whether basing on a set of statistics from chats, without knowing the content of the discussion, we can correctly predict levels of acquaintance between peers.
Strongly representable atom structures of relation algebras

A relation algebra atom structure is said to be strongly rep- resentable if all atomic relation algebras with that atom structure are rep- resentable. This is equivalent to saying that the complex algebra Cm is a representable relation algebra. We show that the class of all strongly repre- sentable relation algebra atom structures is not closed under ultraproducts and is therefore not elementary. This answers a question of Maddux (1982). Our proof is based on the following construction. From an arbitrary undi- rected, loop-free graph , we construct a relation algebra atom structure () and prove, for infinite , that () is strongly representable if and only if the chromatic number of is infinite. A construction of Erdos shows that there are graphs r (r < ! ) with infinite chromatic number, with a non-principal ul- traproduct Q D r whose chromatic number is just two. It follows that ( r) is strongly representable (each r < ! ) but Q D ( ( r)) is not.
Network function virtualization scheduling with transmission delay optimization

To accelerate the implementation of network functions/middle boxes and reduce the deployment cost, recently the concept of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has emerged and became a topic of much interest attracting the attention of researchers from both industry and academia. Unlike the traditional implementation of network functions, a software-oriented approach for network functions create more flexible and dynamic network services to meet a more diversified demand. In this paper, we study the Virtual Network Function (VNF) chaining scheduling problem with limited network resources. We consider VNF transmission and processing delays, and formulate the VNFs chaining scheduling as a new Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. Our objective is to minimize the latency of the overall VNFs' schedule. Reducing the scheduling latency enables cloud operators to service (and admit) more customers, thereby increasing operators' revenues. Owing to the complexity of the problem, we develop a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based method for solving the problem efficiently. Finally, the effectiveness of our heuristic algorithm is verified through numerical results.
Multi-criteria Virtual Machines Migration Considering the Reconfiguration of Their Logical Topology

We present a methodology, called communication-aware virtual infrastructures (COMAVI), for the concurrent migration of multiple Virtual Machines (VMs) in cloud computing infrastructures, which aims at the optimum use of the available computational and network resources, by capturing the interdependencies between the communicating VMs. This methodology uses multiple criteria for selecting the VMs that will migrate, with different weights assigned to each of them. COMAVI also selects the computing sites/units where the migrating VMs will be hosted, by accounting for the way migration affects the logical (or virtual) topologies formed by the communicating VMs and viewing this selection as a logical topology reconfiguration problem. COMAVI resolves the maximum possible number of VM resource shortages, while tending to minimize the number of migrations performed, the induced network overhead, the logical topology reconfigurations required, and the corresponding service interruptions. We evaluate the proposed method through simulations, where we exhibit their performance benefits.
Perspectives on algorithm animation

Systems for animating algorithms have received considerable interest of late as effective means for understanding computer programs. Thus far, nothing has been reported in the literature concerning nature of the displays nor to what extent displays can be created automatically. This paper addresses these two issues. The first part presents a taxonomy of displays prevalent in algorithm animation systems; the second part uses the taxonomy to analyze those types of displays that can and cannot be created automatically from unmodified source code.
Soft Error Mitigation Through Selective Addition of Functionally Redundant Wires

We introduce a logic-level soft error mitigation methodology for combinational circuits. The proposed method exploits the existence of logic implications in a design, and is based on selective addition of pertinent functionally redundant wires to the circuit. We demonstrate that the addition of functionally redundant wires reduces the probability that a single-event transient (SET) error will reach a primary output, and, by extension, the soft error rate (SER) of the circuit. We discuss three methods for identifying candidate functionally redundant wires, and we outline the necessary conditions for adding them to the circuit. We then present an algorithm that assesses the SET sensitization probability reduction achieved by candidate functionally redundant wires, and selects an appropriate subset that, when added to the design, minimizes its SER. Experimental results on ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits demonstrate that the proposed soft error mitigation methodology yields a significant SER reduction at the expense of commensurate hardware, power, and delay overhead.
Iraqi Perspectives Project. Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents. Volume 1 (Redacted)

Abstract : Captured Iraqi documents have uncovered evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism, including a variety of revolutionary, liberation, nationalist, and Islamic terrorist organizations. While these documents do not reveal direct coordination and assistance between the Saddam regime and the al Qaeda network, they do indicate that Saddam was willing to use, albeit cautiously, operatives affiliated with al Qaeda as long as Saddam could have these terrorist operatives monitored closely. Because Saddam's security organizations and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network operated with similar aims (at least in the short term), considerable overlap was inevitable when monitoring, contacting, financing, and training the same outside groups. This created both the appearance of and, in some ways, a "de facto" link between the organizations. At times, these organizations would work together in pursuit of shared goals but still maintain their autonomy and independence because of innate caution and mutual distrust. Though the execution of Iraqi terror plots was not always successful, evidence shows that Saddam's use of terrorist tactics and his support for terrorist groups remained strong up until the collapse of the regime.
Transatlantic Natural Gas Price Convergence - Is LNG Doing Its Job?

International natural gas markets have witnessed substantial institutional and economic changes during the past decade. Liberalization in most parts of the world, restructuring of former vertically integrated supply chains, and falling transportation costs have pushed the emergence of a new “international gas market”, replacing the former regionally segmented markets (North America, Europe, Asia). Natural gas traders and analysts alike concur that the “globalization of natural gas markets” has now come about. The dramatic increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade provides the missing link that allows market integration across regions, in particular across the Atlantic Ocean. This paper provides evidence on the integration of international natural gas markets. We test the theoretical proposition that in integrating markets of homogenous products, prices should move in the same direction, price differentials should only represent differences in transportation costs or quality. Our hypothesis is that as markets, in particular transatlantic natural gas markets, are getting more intertwined, price integration is the natural consequence of the integration process. Using daily spot prices for natural gas and oil in North America and Europe we investigate price dynamics covering the period from 1999 until 2006. We deduce the effect that spot prices of oil have on prices for natural gas invalidating the argument of trends in oil prices transmitting on prices for natural gas. Following, we use the Kalman Filter technique to the whole sample of daily prices in order to gain detailed information on trends inherent over time. Results suggest an increasing convergence of spot prices on either side of the Atlantic Basin. This is mainly due to the evolving international, mainly LNG, trade. We expect an increasing intertwining of international prices including the fast growing Asian market.
Localized Extreme Learning Machine for online inverse dynamic model estimation in soft wearable exoskeleton

In recent years, actuation technology have been increasingly developed new fields and utilized widely in applications differing from automation and industry , but also robotic rehabilitation, haptics and wearable exoskeleton devices where safety, limitation of peak forces and gentle interaction are extremely important. To date, several examples of robotic applications have been designed to address the demanding needs of these disciplines that require the compliance in actuation and manipulation. However, the control performance is still limited due to lack of accuracy in robotic dynamics model and unmodeled nonlinearities such as friction. In such cases, estimating inverse dynamic model from collected data will provide an interesting alternative solution in order to achieve the compliance interaction and the good performance in position tracking. In this paper, an algorithm for online robotic inverse dynamics learning is proposed and explained using localization approach combined with Extreme Learning Machine.
Catching What We Can't See: Manual Interception of Occluded Fly-Ball Trajectories

Control of interceptive actions may involve fine interplay between feedback-based and predictive mechanisms. These processes rely heavily on target motion information available when the target is visible. However, short-term visual memory signals as well as implicit knowledge about the environment may also contribute to elaborate a predictive representation of the target trajectory, especially when visual feedback is partially unavailable because other objects occlude the visual target. To determine how different processes and information sources are integrated in the control of the interceptive action, we manipulated a computer-generated visual environment representing a baseball game. Twenty-four subjects intercepted fly-ball trajectories by moving a mouse cursor and by indicating the interception with a button press. In two separate sessions, fly-ball trajectories were either fully visible or occluded for 750, 1000 or 1250 ms before ball landing. Natural ball motion was perturbed during the descending trajectory with effects of either weightlessness (0 g) or increased gravity (2 g) at times such that, for occluded trajectories, 500 ms of perturbed motion were visible before ball disappearance. To examine the contribution of previous visual experience with the perturbed trajectories to the interception of invisible targets, the order of visible and occluded sessions was permuted among subjects. Under these experimental conditions, we showed that, with fully visible targets, subjects combined servo-control and predictive strategies. Instead, when intercepting occluded targets, subjects relied mostly on predictive mechanisms based, however, on different type of information depending on previous visual experience. In fact, subjects without prior experience of the perturbed trajectories showed interceptive errors consistent with predictive estimates of the ball trajectory based on a-priori knowledge of gravity. Conversely, the interceptive responses of subjects previously exposed to fully visible trajectories were compatible with the fact that implicit knowledge of the perturbed motion was also taken into account for the extrapolation of occluded trajectories.
THREE DIMENSIONAL STATISTICAL IMAGE ANALYSIS AND CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY

An important area of interest in microscopy may be the shape a nd spatial arrangement of the objects under study, aspects such size, i nteraction and orientation. Confocal fluorescence microscopy is a useful d evice for imaging three dimensional specimens because of its non-destructiv e and non-invasive nature which preserves such spatial information. However, imaging problems still arise; low signal-to-noise ratio, convolution by unk nown point spread functions and attenuation of the signal by the object under s tudy lead to degraded blurred images. The goal may be not only to enhance the visual appearance of the 3D images but also to give quantitative summaries of some of s hape parameters. This article attempts to tackle the complicated 3D deconvol uti n problem in a statistical framework using a Bayesian approach. Simulat ion techniques are required to make inference about the true scene given the 3D d ata. Interval estimates can be made of size and shape attributes from the po sterior distribution.
A new performance metric for multiple target tracking based on optimal subpattern assignment

This paper proposes a new metric based on the Optimal Sub-pattern Assignment (OSPA) metric for evaluating the performance of multiple target tracking algorithms. It is shown in this paper that by considering the properties of false tracks, missing tracks and miss-detections, the minimization of all distances between tracks enables performance evaluation of multi-target algorithms in a more comprehensive manner than is possible with the OSPA metric for track (OSPAT) introduced by Ristic et al.
Estimating Unsaturated Hydraulic Functions for Coarse Sediment from a Field‐Scale Infiltration Experiment

Conglomeratic alluvial sediments (sand–gravel–cobbles) are common in fluvial, periglacial, and tectonically active regions but have received little attention with respect to unsaturated flow, specifically moisture–tension–conductivity relationships, due to difficulty in making measurements in the field or laboratory and lack of agricultural value. We used a field‐scale infiltration experiment, a one‐dimensional layered forward model, and parameter estimation modeling to examine in situ flow behavior between residual and partial saturation in a four‐layer system under steady infiltration (0.84 cm h−1) for 19 h. Prior information from ground‐penetrating radar, grain‐size distributions from core samples, and long‐term tension (ψ) and moisture (θ) monitoring were used to define geologic structure, simulate test behavior, and provide initial parameter estimates. Vertically distributed measurements of ψ(t) and θ(t) from the experiment were matched using four parameters (θs, α, n, and Ks) of the van Genuchten–Mualem (VGM) relationships for each material layer and a Metropolis–Hastings (MH) search with multiple, independent‐chain runs to 106 samples each. Scale reduction factors indicated convergence of independent chains for 11 of 16 parameters. Final distributions of individual parameters varied from normal to nearly uniform distributions, and some parameter pairs showed high cross‐correlation (R2 > 0.9). Results showed that (i) VGM relationships can be applied to these coarse, conglomeratic soils to characterize unsaturated flow behavior across the natural range of partial saturation, (ii) even under high sustained infiltration rates, these coarse conglomeratic soils remain well drained, despite relatively low porosity and significant cobble fraction, and (iii) high uncertainty and nonconvergence of MH chains does not lead to significant misfit of the observed data. These findings imply that a significant cobble fraction does not markedly reduce infiltration at low saturation levels that develop under natural recharge conditions.