Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Dual-System Approach to Realistic Evaluation of Large-Scale Networked Systems

A Dual-System Approach to Realistic Evaluation of Large-Scale Networked Systems Richard Allan Alimi 2010 Many useful techniques and infrastructures have been developed to test the correctness and performance of computer systems before deployment. However, they are limited when applied to the large-scale networked systems that are prevalent today, from Internet routing to peer-to-peer (P2P) video delivery. First, testing infrastructures are typically smaller in size and scale than the production infrastructure, limiting the scale of possible test scenarios. Second, keeping the testing infrastructures and their configurations synchronized with the production infrastructures is difficult or impossible. Finally, capturing and integrating production workloads into the testing infrastructures can be challenging. To address these shortcomings, we have developed novel techniques to conduct correctness and performance evaluations on production infrastructures for large, networked systems. We show how incorporation of domain-specific knowledge of a system being tested can provide an efficient testing infrastructure that is scalable, accurate, and easily integrates production workloads. Our techniques also avoid disruption to users of the production system. In particular, we first present a general formulation of a dual system running both the production and the tested systems concurrently. We then present ShadowNet, a realization of the dual-system concept at the link layer and network layer. ShadowNet can be used by network providers (e.g., ISPs) to evaluate the correctness and performance of network configurations before deployment. We also present PEAC, a realization of the dual-system concept at the application layer, to introduce additional capabilities. In particular, using P2P live streaming as an example, we show how the tested system can be used to handle the production system’s workload while avoiding disruption to users. PEAC introduces a scalable and distributed control technique that allows a developer to construct test scenarios with a large number of nodes.
Formation of size-controlled nano carrier systems by self-assembly

Nano carrier systems were prepared by forming self-assembled liposomes having a size distribution in the nano range through use of an ultrasonic homogenizer. Phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol were utilized as an amphiphilic compound and a shape stabilizer, respectively. The size of prepared samples was decreased (up to 150 nm) by elevating ratio of lecithin and extending homogenization time (2 ∼ 6 min). After secondary coating with alginic acid (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5%, W/V), size was remarkably changed in the range of ±30 nm and zeta-potential was altered (only chitosan coating (molecular weight: 30 000 Da, 0.2%, W/V): 10.3 mV, Alginic acid coating (0.5%, W/V) after the chitosan coating: −21.8 mV). The low molecular weight chitosan (0.1%, W/V)-coated nano-liposomes had a lower absolute value of zeta-potential than the high molecular weight chitosan (0.1%, W/V)-coated nano-liposomes. The encapsulation efficiency was measured by gas chromatography. The efficiency was decreased slightly by elevating chitosan concentration (0.1 ∼ 0.5%, W/V).
Repetitive optokinetic stimulation induces lasting recovery from visual neglect.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether repetitive optokinetic stimulation with active pursuit eye movements leads to substantial and greater recovery from visual neglect as compared to conventional visual scanning training. METHODS Two groups of five patients with leftsided hemineglect were consecutively collected and matched for clinical and demographic variables as well as neglect severity. One group received five treatment sessions of repetitive optokinetic stimulation (R-OKS) within one week, while the other group received the same amount of conventional visual scanning training (VST) using identical visual stimuli and setup. All patients were treated in a single-subject baseline design with treatment-free intervals before (14 days) and after specific neglect therapy (14 days). Dependent variables were the improvements in digit cancellation, visuoperceptual and visuomotor line bisection and visual size distortion during treatment. The transfer of treatment effects was assessed by a paragraph reading test. RESULTS The results showed superior effects of OKS treatment in all five patients which generalized across all tasks administered and remained stable at follow-up. In contrast, no significant improvements were obtained after VST training in any of these tasks, except in line bisection. CONCLUSION We conclude that the presentation of moving visual stimulus displays with active smooth pursuit eye movements can be more efficient than conventional visual scanning training using static visual displays.
A Multilingual Hierarchy Mapping Method Based on GHSOM

With the increasing amount of multilingual texts in the Internet, multilingual text retrieval techniques have become an important research issue. However, the discovery of relationships between different languages remains an open problem. In this paper we propose a method, which applies the growing hierarchical self- organizing map (GHSOM) model, to discover knowledge from multilingual text documents. Multilingual parallel corpora were trained by the GHSOM to generate hierarchical feature maps. A discovery process is then applied on these maps to discover the relationships between documents of different languages. The relationships between keywords of different languages are also revealed. We conducted experiments on a set of Chinese-English bilingual parallel corpora to discover the relationships between documents of these languages.
Chronic Drought Decreases Anabolic and Catabolic BVOC Emissions of Quercus pubescens in a Mediterranean Forest

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) emitted by plants can originate from both anabolism (metabolite production through anabolic processes) and catabolism (metabolite degradation by oxidative reactions). Drought can favor leaf oxidation by increasing the oxidative pressure in plant cells. Thus, under the precipitation decline predicted for the Mediterranean region, it can be expected both strong oxidation of anabolic BVOC within leaves and, as a result, enhanced catabolic BVOC emissions. Using an experimental rain exclusion device in a natural forest, we compared the seasonal course of the emissions of the main anabolic BVOC released by Q. pubescens (isoprene and methanol) and their catabolic products (MACR+MVK+ISOPOOH and formaldehyde, respectively) after 3 years of precipitation restriction (−30% of rain). Thus, we assume that this repetitive amplified drought promoted a chronic drought. BVOC emissions were monitored, on-line, with a PTR-ToF-MS. Amplified drought decreased all BVOC emissions rates in spring and summer by around 40–50 %, especially through stomatal closure, with no effect in autumn. Moreover, ratios between catabolic and anabolic BVOC remained unchanged with amplified drought, suggesting a relative stable oxidative pressure in Q. pubescens under the water stress applied. Moreover, these results suggest a quite good resilience of this species under the most severe climate change scenario in the Mediterranean region.
The Delay in the Development of Experimental Colitis from Isomaltosyloligosaccharides in Rats Is Dependent on the Degree of Polymerization

Background Isomaltosyloligosaccharides (IMO) and dextran (Dex) are hardly digestible in the small intestine and thus influence the luminal environment and affect the maintenance of health. There is wide variation in the degree of polymerization (DP) in Dex and IMO (short-sized IMO, S-IMO; long-sized IMO, L-IMO), and the physiological influence of these compounds may be dependent on their DP. Methodology/Principal Findings Five-week-old male Wistar rats were given a semi-purified diet with or without 30 g/kg diet of the S-IMO (DP = 3.3), L-IMO (DP = 8.4), or Dex (DP = 1230) for two weeks. Dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) was administered to the rats for one week to induce experimental colitis. We evaluated the clinical symptoms during the DSS treatment period by scoring the body weight loss, stool consistency, and rectal bleeding. The development of colitis induced by DSS was delayed in the rats fed S-IMO and Dex diets. The DSS treatment promoted an accumulation of neutrophils in the colonic mucosa in the rats fed the control, S-IMO, and L-IMO diets, as assessed by a measurement of myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. In contrast, no increase in MPO activity was observed in the Dex-diet-fed rats even with DSS treatment. Immune cell populations in peripheral blood were also modified by the DP of ingested saccharides. Dietary S-IMO increased the concentration of n-butyric acid in the cecal contents and the levels of glucagon-like peptide-2 in the colonic mucosa. Conclusion/Significance Our study provided evidence that the physiological effects of α-glucosaccharides on colitis depend on their DP, linkage type, and digestibility.
Asymmetric Pass-Through in U.S. Gasoline Prices

This paper presents new evidence of asymmetric pass-through, the notion that upward cost shocks are passed through faster than downward cost shocks, in U.S. gasoline prices. Much of the extant literature comes to seemingly contradictory conclusions about the existence and causes of asymmetry, though the differences may be due to different aggregation (both over time and geographic markets) and the use of different price series including crude oil, wholesale, and retail gasoline prices. I utilize a large and detailed dataset to determine where evidence of a passthrough asymmetry exists, and how it depends on the aggregation and price series chosen by the researcher. Using the error correction model, I find evidence of pass-through asymmetry based on spot, rack and retail prices, though the largest effect is found in the rack to retail relationship. I find more asymmetry in branded prices compared with unbranded prices, consistent with a consumer search explanation for asymmetry. However, I also find evidence consistent with explanations based on market power as the magnitude of asymmetry is positively associated with retail concentration. On average, retail prices rise three to four times as fast as they fall.
Flexible process integration for Mass Customisation Manufacturing via autonomous mobile Payload Routing Platforms

In this paper, the problem of providing flexible process integration for Mass Customisation Manufacturing is addressed. A subset of the total distributed process integration is assumed to be handled by flexible routing operations. Physical routing operations are considered to be facilitated by autonomous mobile Payload Routing Platforms (PRP's). Facility layout flexibility is extended through active material routing operations. A prototype mobile PRP is presented, which has been developed for preliminary testing and validation of the motion control associated with providing distributed process integration under customer-induced production dynamics.
Estimation of the Effective Permeability in Magnetorheological Fluids

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids constitute examples of controllable ("smart") fluids, whose Theological properties vary in response to an applied magnetic field. These fluids typically consist of micron-sized, magnetizable particles dispersed in a nonpermeable carrier fluid. The essential characteristic of MR fluids is that they may be continuously and reversibly varied from a state of free flowing liquids in the absence of an applied magnetic field to that of stiff semi-solids in a moderate field. Understanding the magnetic properties of MR fluids is crucial to the design of MR fluid-based devices and it also provides valuable insight into the character of the microstructure responsible for their field-dependent rheology. Prediction of the overall magnetic properties of MR composites is a challenging task, however, due to the highly nonlinear and strongly spatially variable nature of the magnetization of the constituents. In this paper we propose a model for this behavior that is based on the mathematical theory of homogenization. We derive effective equations that govern the magnetic response of (periodically arranged) particle-chains through magnetic saturation. Comparisons of numerical results for these equations with experimental data show good agreement which suggests that our approach could be useful in the design of improved MR fluids.
Penguins, Camels, and Other Birds of a Feather: Brokerage, Boundary Spanning, and Leadership in Open Innovation Communities

What types of human and social capital identify the emergence of leaders of open innovation communities? Consistent with the norms of an engineering culture, we find that future leaders must first make strong technical contributions. Beyond technical contributions, they must then integrate their voluntary communities in order to avoid the ever present danger of forking and balkanization. This is enabled by two correlated but distinct social positions: brokerage, and boundary spanning between technological modules. An inherent lack of trust associated with brokerage positions can be overcome through physical interaction or contributions within technological boundaries. Successful leaders are thus the product of strong technical contribution and a structural position that can bind the community together.
SPEAKER-DEPENDENT SPEECH CODING

SPEAKER DEPENDENT SPEECH CODING Mete Kemal Kart M.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Enis Çetin August 2006 With the rapid expansion of Internet, it became feasible to have low-cost and secure telephone calls via internet. New digital speech compression standards were developed. Digital speech codecs can be used both in regular telephone networks and Internet based systems. Thereby, for a secure call, speech data are firstly compressed by digital speech codecs, and then, these compressed packages are sent in an encoded way through Data Encryption Standard (3DES) [1], Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) [2] encoding methods. Compressing and encoding processes require high processor performance and they may even require the use of high frequency processors and DSP’s to encode the binary speech data. Current speech coders are speaker independent, i.e., they don’t perform any speaker specific operations. They do not even distinguish between male and female speakers. An interesting way to solve this problem is to send speech after encoding it with a system that is based on a specific user. This system, which can be also called as speaker dependent speech encoding, provides a computationally efficient and relatively secure VoIP call, with high quality and without any encoding compared to the same bit rate standard speech codecs. Despite the disadvantages of requirement of acquiring all the speech characteristics of users and the need for extra data space, it has advantages such as providing secure communication because speech characteristics of the speaker is unknown to other users and the synthesized speech has higher quality compared to a same bit rate LPC compressed speech. iii
Birth cohort and calendar period trends in breast cancer mortality in the United States and Canada.

BACKGROUND Previous studies of regional and temporal variation in U.S. breast cancer mortality rates have been confined largely to analyses of rates for white women. PURPOSE Breast cancer mortality rates from 1969 through 1992 for white women and black women in four regions of the United States and for all women throughout Canada were compared to identify racial, regional, and temporal differences. Differences and trends in the rates were evaluated in view of breast cancer risk factors and relevant medical interventions. METHODS Age-period-cohort models were fit to the data, and changes in birth cohort trends (suggesting a change in a breast cancer risk factor or protective factor) and calendar period trends (suggesting, in part, the impact of new or improved medical interventions) were examined. RESULTS Breast cancer mortality rates for white women were significantly higher in the Northeast than in any other region of the United States (two-sided t tests; P<.005); the rates for black women were not. Birth cohort trends for all women were similar until about 1940, with a moderation of mortality risk beginning around 1924. A marked moderation of risk by 4-year birth cohorts was observed for U.S. white women born after 1950, whereas stable or slightly decreasing trends were observed for U.S. black women and Canadian women. For women born from 1924 to around 1938, fertility rates increased for all three groups; after 1950, they declined uniformly. Looking at temporal effects, we found that the slope of the mortality calendar period trend increased in the 1980s compared with the 1970s for all women. In the last calendar period, 1991-1992, a trend of decreasing mortality rates was found for white women in the United States and for Canadian women. IMPLICATIONS Widespread environmental exposures are unlikely to explain the higher relative breast cancer mortality rates observed for U.S. white women in the Northeast, since the rates for black women in this region were not higher than in other regions. The moderation of breast cancer mortality rates for women born between 1924 and 1938 coincides with increased fertility rates following World War II. Stable or decreasing mortality rates for U.S. women and Canadian women born after 1950 were not expected in view of declining fertility rates, suggesting a change in a breast cancer risk factor or protective factor. The increase in calendar period trend slope in the 1980s likely reflects the coincident rise in breast cancer diagnosis via mammography. The recent decline in calendar period trend for white women in the United States and for Canadian women may be the result of earlier detection and increased use of adjuvant therapy.
Load-Balanced Data Collection through Opportunistic Routing

Wireless Sensor Networks performing low-power data collection often suffer from uneven load distribution among nodes. Nodes close to the network root typically face a higher load, see their battery deplete first, and become prematurely unable to operate (both sensing and relaying other nodes' data). We argue that opportunistic routing, by making forwarding decision on a per-packet basis and at the receiver rather than the sender, has the potential to better balance the load across nodes. We extend ORPL, an opportunistic version of the standard routing protocol RPL, with support for load-balancing. In our protocol, ORPL-LB, nodes continuously adapt their wake-up interval in order to adjust their availability and attain a deployment-specific target duty cycle. We implement our protocol in Contikiand present our experimental validation in Indriya, a 93-nodestestbed. Our results show that ORPL-LB reduces significantly(by approximately 40%) the worst node's duty cycle, with little or no impact on packet delivery ratio and latency.
Shear Stress Induces Differentiation of Endothelial Lineage Cells to Protect Neonatal Brain from Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury through NRP1 and VEGFR2 Signaling

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injuries disrupt the integrity of neurovascular structure and lead to lifelong neurological deficit. The devastating damage can be ameliorated by preserving the endothelial network, but the source for therapeutic cells is limited. We aim to evaluate the beneficial effect of mechanical shear stress in the differentiation of endothelial lineage cells (ELCs) from adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) and the possible intracellular signals to protect HI injury using cell-based therapy in the neonatal rats. The ASCs expressed early endothelial markers after biochemical stimulation of endothelial growth medium. The ELCs with full endothelial characteristics were accomplished after a subsequential shear stress application for 24 hours. When comparing the therapeutic potential of ASCs and ELCs, the ELCs treatment significantly reduced the infarction area and preserved neurovascular architecture in HI injured brain. The transplanted ELCs can migrate and engraft into the brain tissue, especially in vessels, where they promoted the angiogenesis. The activation of Akt by neuropilin 1 (NRP1) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) was important for ELC migration and following in vivo therapeutic outcomes. Therefore, the current study demonstrated importance of mechanical factor in stem cell differentiation and showed promising protection of brain from HI injury using ELCs treatment.
Endogenous Dopamine Regulates the Rhythm of Expression of the Clock Protein PER2 in the Rat Dorsal Striatum via Daily Activation of D2 Dopamine Receptors

A role for dopamine (DA) in the regulation of clock genes in the mammalian brain is suggested by evidence that manipulations of DA receptors can alter the expression of some clock genes outside the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the master circadian clock. The role of endogenous DA in the regulation of clock gene expression is unknown. Here, we demonstrate a direct relationship between extracellular DA levels and the rhythm of expression of the clock protein PERIOD2 (PER2) in the dorsal striatum of the male Wistar rat. Specifically, we show that the peak of the daily rhythm of extracellular DA in the dorsal striatum precedes the peak of PER2 by ∼6 h and that depletion of striatal DA by 6-hydroxydopamine or α-methyl-para-tyrosine or blockade of D2 DA receptors by raclopride blunts the rhythm of striatal PER2. Furthermore, timed daily activation of D2 DA receptors, but not D1 DA receptors, restores and entrains the PER2 rhythm in the DA-depleted striatum. None of these manipulations had any effect on the PER2 rhythm in the SCN. Our findings are consistent with the idea that the rhythm of expression of PER2 in the dorsal striatum depends on daily dopaminergic activation of D2 DA receptors. These observations may have implications for circadian abnormalities seen in Parkinson's disease.