Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oblivious Polynomial Evaluation

Oblivious polynomial evaluation is a protocol involving two parties, a sender whose input is a polynomial P, and a receiver whose input is a value $\alpha$. At the end of the protocol the receiver learns $P(\alpha)$ and the sender learns nothing. We describe efficient constructions for this protocol, which are based on new intractability assumptions that are closely related to noisy polynomial reconstruction. Oblivious polynomial evaluation can be used as a primitive in many applications. We describe several such applications, including protocols for private comparison of data, for mutually authenticated key exchange based on (possibly weak) passwords, and for anonymous coupons.
Acts of Desertion: Abandonment and Renouncement at the Sonoran Borderzone

What are ‘acts of desertion’, how do they feature in contemporary border struggles, and what might an emphasis on such acts bring to the analysis of the politics of mobility? This article seeks to address these questions in the context of the Sonoran borderzone, which crosses Mexico and the US. It develops an analysis that sheds light on contemporary border struggles in terms that acknowledge both the intensity of security practices as well as the significance of migratory acts, without pre-fixing the relation between the two. The analysis shows how ‘acts of desertion’ involve differentiated dynamics of abandonment and renouncement, which demand appreciation of the ambiguities of contemporary border struggles. As acts that variously involve a dynamics of refusal, the article argues that acts of desertion challenge the limits of liberal citizenship, without wholly transcending its limitations. Abstrakt Was sind ‘Desertionsakte’, inwiefern spielen sie eine Rolle in gegenwartigen Border Struggles, und was konnte die Betonung solcher Handlungen zur Analyse von Mobilitatspolitiken beitragen? Dieser Artikel will diese Fragen im Kontext der Sonora-Grenzzone adressieren, die Mexiko und die Vereinigten Staaten durchzieht. Er entwickelt eine Analyse, die gegenwartige Border Struggles auf eine Art und Weise beleuchtet, die sowohl die Intensitat von Sicherheitspraktiken, als auch die Bedeutung von Migrationshandlungen berucksichtigt, ohne die Beziehung zwischen den beiden vorwegzunehmen. Die Analyse zeigt, inwiefern ‘Desertionsakte’ differenzierte Dynamiken des Verlassens und Aufgebens beinhalten, die eine Berucksichtigung der Ambiguitat gegenwartiger Border Struggles notig machen. Der Artikel legt dar dass diese Handlungen, indem sie auf verschiedene Art und Weise Dynamiken der Zuruckweisung beinhalten, die Beschrankungen liberaler Staatsburgerschaft herausfordern, ohne jedoch vollkommen uber deren Einschrankungen hinauszugehen.
ON THE INSTABILITY OF SOLITARY-WAVE SOLUTIONS FOR FIFTH-ORDER WATER WAVE MODELS

This work presents new results about the instability of solitary- wave solutions to a generalized fth-order Korteweg-deVries equation of the form ut +uxxxxx +buxxx = (G(u;ux;uxx))x; where G(q;r;s) = Fq(q;r) rFqr(q;r) sFrr(q;r) for some F (q;r) which is homogeneous of degree p + 1 for some p > 1. This model arises, for example, in the mathematical description of phenomena in water waves and magneto- sound propagation in plasma. The existence of a class of solitary-wave so- lutions is obtained by solving a constrained minimization problem in H 2 (R) which is based in results obtained by Levandosky. The instability of this class of solitary-wave solutions is determined for b6 0, and it is obtained by making use of the variational characterization of the solitary waves and a modica- tion of the theories of instability established by Shatah & Strauss, Bona & Souganidis & Strauss and Gon calves Ribeiro. Moreover, our approach shows that the trajectories used to exhibit instability will be uniformly bounded in H 2 (R).
Rigid fluid

We present a framework for modeling solid-fluid phase change. Our framework is physically-motivated, with geometric constraints applied to define rigid dynamics using shape matching. In each simulation step, particle positions are updated using an extended SPH solver where they are treated as fluid. Then a geometric constraint is computed based on current particle configuration, which consists of an optimal translation and an optimal rotation. Our approach differs from methods such as [Carlson et al. 2004] in that we solve rigid dynamics by using a stable geometric constraint [Müller et al. 2005] embedded in a fluid simulator.
Quasi-ASICs: Trading Area for Energy by Exploiting Similarity in Synthesized Cores for Irregular Code

The transistor density continues to increase exponentially, but the power dissipation per transistor improves only slightly with each generation of Moore’s law. Given the constant chip-level power budgets, this exponentially decreases the fraction of the transistors that can be active simultaneously with each technology generation. Hence, while the area budget continues to increase exponentially, the power budget has become a first-order design constraint in current processors. In this regime, utilizing transistors to design specialized cores that optimize energy-per-computation becomes an effective approach to improve the system performance. To trade transistors for energy efficiency in a scalable manner, we propose quasi application-specific integrated circuits, or QASICs, specialized processors capable of executing multiple generalpurpose applications while providing an order-of-magnitude more energy efficiency than a general-purpose processor. The QASIC design flow is based on the insight that similar code-patterns exist across applications. Our approach seeks to exploit these similar code patterns to design specialized cores that can support many of the widely used computations. Our results demonstrate that designing relatively few QASICs can support operator functions of multiple commonly used data structures and these QASICs provide 13.5 energy savings over a general-purpose processor. On a more diverse workload consisting of twelve applications selected from different application domains (including SPECINT, Sat Solver, Vision, EEMBC, among others), our results show that QASICs reduce the required number of application-specific circuits by over 50% and the area requirement by 23% compared to the fully-specialized logic while providing energy-efficiency within 1.27X of that of fully-specialized logic. Also, at system level, our approach reduces the application energy-delay metric by 46% compared to conventional processors.
Ourmon and Network Monitoring Performance

Ourmon is an open-source network management and anomaly detection system that has been developed over a period of several years at Portland State University. Ourmon monitors a target network both to highlight abnormal network traffic and measure normal traffic loads. In this paper, we describe the features and performance characteristics of Ourmon. Ourmon features include a novel mechanism for running multiple concurrent Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) expressions bound to a single RRDTOOL-style graph, as well as various types of top talker (top-N) filters aimed at conventional network flow measurements and anomaly detection. These features permit a variety of useful and easily-understood measurements. One problem that sniffer-based network monitor systems face is network-intensive attacks that can overwhelm monitoring and analysis resources. Lab experiments with an IXIA high-speed packet generator, as well as experiences with Ourmon in a real network environment, demonstrate this problem. Some recent modifications to Ourmon have greatly improved its performance. However, minimum-size packets in a high-speed network can still easily make a host lose packets even at relatively slow rates and low monitor workloads. We contend that small packet performance is a general network security problem faced by current monitoring systems including both open source systems such as Ourmon and Snort, and commercial systems.
A Novel Peptidomimetic Compounds as HCV-NS3 Protease Inhibitors: Spectroscopic Analysis

The presented molecular modeling is utilized to innovate new peptidomimetic compounds. These proposed compounds are designed to act as HCV NS3 protease antiviral. The suggested antivirals are divided into two groups. The first group has hexapeptide (Glu-Asp-Val-Val-Cys-Cys) binding to cellulose monomer at positions 2, 3 or 6 while the second group has hexapeptide (Glu-Asp-Val-Val-Cys-Cys) binding to cellulose dimer at positions 2, 3, 6, 2', 3'or 6'. Semi- empirical PM3 quantum mechanical method is first utilized for optimization, then to calculate the vibrational spectra of these novel compounds. It is found that higher dipole moment (11.907 Debye) corresponds to the hexapeptide (Glu-Asp- Val-Val-Cys-Cys) binding to cellulose dimer at position 2' compound. Accordingly, calculation is repeated at HF/3- 21g**and B3LYP/3-21g** for such compound for verification.
Natural history of compensated viral cirrhosis: a prospective study on the incidence and hierarchy of major complications

Background and aims: The natural history of initially compensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis B (HBV) or hepatitis C (HCV) virus is only partially defined. We have investigated morbidity and mortality rates and the hierarchy of complications in compensated viral cirrhosis over a long follow up period. Patients and Methods: A cohort of Italian patients with initially compensated cirrhosis of viral aetiology were followed up at six monthly intervals with laboratory tests to identify major complications (ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, portal-systemic encephalopathy, hepatocellular carcinoma) and to assess the progression of Child’s stage and mortality rate due to liver related causes. Results: Between 1986 and 1996, 312 patients (43 HBV positive, 254 HCV positive, and 15 HBV and HCV coinfected) were included. During a median follow up of 93 (range 14–194) months, 102 (32.6%) patients developed at least one complication (HCV positive 31.1%; HBV positive 34.8%; HBV and HCV coinfected 53.3%). Overall, the most frequent complication was hepatocellular carcinoma which occurred in 65 (20.8%) cases, followed by ascites (61 cases, 19.5%), gastrointestinal bleeding (14 cases, 4.5%), and portal-systemic encephalopathy (six cases, 1.9%). Progression of Child’s stage was observed in 62 patients (19.8%). Death from liver disease occurred in 58 (18.6%) cases and in 70.7% this was due to hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma was the first complication to develop in 59 cases and represented the most frequent first complication in both HCV and HBV/ HCV related cirrhosis. Conclusions: These results indicate significant morbidity and mortality during the first decade after diagnosis of compensated cirrhosis due to HBV and/or HCV, and identify hepatocellular carcinoma as the most frequent and life threatening complication, particularly in HCV positive cases.
Gene Expression Profiling and Real-Time PCR Analyses Identify Novel Potential Cancer-Testis Antigens in Multiple Myeloma1

Cancer-testis (CT) Ags are attractive targets for immunotherapeutic strategies since they are aberrantly expressed in malignant cells and not, or in limited number, in somatic tissues, except germ cells. To identify novel CT genes in multiple myeloma, we used Affymetrix HG-U133 gene expression profiles of 5 testis, 64 primary multiple myeloma cells (MMC), and 24 normal tissue samples. A 5-filter method was developed to keep known CT genes while deleting non-CT genes. Starting from 44,928 probe sets, including probe sets for 18 previously described CT genes, we have obtained 82 genes expressed in MMC and testis and not detected in more than 6 normal tissue samples. This list includes 14 of the 18 known CT genes and 68 novel putative CT genes. Real-time RT-PCR was performed for 34 genes in 12 normal tissue samples, 5 MMC samples, and one sample of five pooled testes. It has validated the CT status of 23 of 34 genes (67%). We found one novel “testis-restricted” gene (TEX14, expression in testis and tumor only), eight “tissue-restricted” (mRNA detected in one or two nongametogenic tissues), and seven “differentially expressed” (mRNA detected in three to six nongametogenic tissues) CT genes. Further studies are warranted to determine the immunogenicity of these novel CT Ag candidates.
Aging Populations and Management

The author considers societal and managerial challenges posted by an aging population. It mentions the aging population is motivating changes in how people are managed and will challenge social norms of equity and fairness. It comments many countries are examining the age at which people can utilize employer- and government-supported retirement funds as extended life expectancy means in theory older people can work longer, and considers the consequences of increasing the official retirement age.
Autecology of the extant ostracod fauna of Lake Ohrid and adjacent waters - a key to paleoenvironmental reconstruction

Understanding the ecology of bioindicators such as ostracods is essential in order to reconstruct past environmental and climate change from analysis of fossil assemblages preserved in lake sediment cores. Knowledge of the ecology of ancient Lake Ohrid’s ostracod fauna is very limited and open to debate. In advance of the Ohrid ICDP-Drilling project, which has potential to generate high-resolution long-term paleoenvironmental data of global importance in paleoclimate research, we sampled Lake Ohrid and a wide range of habitat types in its surroundings to assess 1) the composition of ostracod assemblages in lakes, springs, streams, and short-lived seasonal water bodies, 2) the geographical distribution of ostracods, and 3) the ecological characteristics of individual ostracod species. In total, 40 species were collected alive, and seven species were preserved as valves and empty carapaces. Of the 40 ostracod species, twelve were endemic to Lake Ohrid. The most common genus in the lake was Candona, represented by 13 living species, followed by Paralimnocythere, represented by five living species. The most frequent species was Cypria obliqua. Species with distinct distributions included Heterocypris incongruens, Candonopsis kingsleii, and Cypria lacustris. The most common species in shallow, flooded areas was H. incongruens, and the most prominent species in ditches was C. kingsleii. C. lacustris was widely distributed in channels, springs, lakes, and rivers. Statistical analyses were performed on a “Lake Ohrid” dataset, comprising the subset of samples from Lake Ohrid alone, and an “entire” dataset comprising all samples collected. The unweighted pair group mean average (UPGMA) clustering was mainly controlled by species-specific depth preferences. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) with forward selection identified water depth, water temperature, and pH as variables that best explained the ostracod distribution in Lake Ohrid. The lack of significance of conductivity and dissolved oxygen in CCA of Ohrid data highlight the uniformity across the lake of the well-mixed waters. In the entire area, CCA revealed that ostracod distribution was best explained by water depth, salinity, conductivity, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Salinity was probably selected by CCA due to the presence of Eucypris virens and Bradleystrandesia reticulata in short-lived seasonal water bodies. Water depth is an important, although indirect, influence on ostracod species distribution, which is probably associated with other factors such as sediment texture and food supply. Some species appeared to be indicators for multiple environmental variables, such as lake level and water temperature.
Implementation of the evidence review on best practice for confirming the correct placement of nasogastric tube in patients in an acute care hospital.

BACKGROUND Nasogastric (NG) tube is a device passed through the gastrointestinal tract of patients for the purpose of feeding, gastric decompression and medication administration. However, a small risk involved in the process is that the tube may be misplaced into the trachea during insertion or may get displaced at a later stage, leading to disastrous results. Recent adverse incidences arising out of the misplacement of NG tube raised concerns among the nursing and medical community and the Patient Safety Officer of the hospital. The Evidence Based Nursing Unit, in collaboration with some of the key nursing leaders in nursing administration, was tasked to explore and institute the current best practice in confirming the correct placement of NG tube. AIM The aim of this project was to institute the best practice to confirm the correct placement of NG tube in patients in an acute care hospital setting. METHOD The project comprised of a few stages. The first stage involved reviewing the existing recommendations and guidelines on the methods for checking correct NG tube placement. The second stage involved incorporation of the change of practice into the clinical setting. The final stage was to monitor and evaluate the impact of the new practice on the patients, nurses and other healthcare professionals. RESULTS Evidence search from guidelines and journals supported the test that used pH indicator instead of the litmus test. There is no evidence that supports the method of auscultation and bubbling to confirm correct NG tube placement in the absence of aspirate. Radiology remains the 'gold standard' for checking correct NG tube placement. The revised method of NG tube placement and workflow was incorporated in the revised Standard Operating Procedures. A total of 17 roadshows were conducted to create awareness regarding the new method amongst the nurses, and the implementation of the revised method and workflow was commenced on 3 November 2008. The initial audit conducted 1 month after the practice change was implemented reported 26 (50%) observations of NG tube feeding in 26 audit wards. The key areas of practice change in feeding when tube placement was confirmed (84.6%) and proper testing of aspirate (76.9%) showed good compliance. CONCLUSION The implementation of the change in the practice of confirming the correct placement of the NG tube in patients requires good coordination and a multidisciplinary team approach.
Biocomputational Characterization and Evolutionary Analysis of Bubaline Dicer1 Enzyme

Dicer, an ribonuclease type III type endonuclease, is the key enzyme involved in biogenesis of microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and thus plays a critical role in RNA interference through post transcriptional regulation of gene expression. This enzyme has not been well studied in the Indian water buffalo, an important species known for disease resistance and high milk production. In this study, the primary coding sequence (5,778 bp) of bubaline dicer (GenBank: AB969677.1) was determined and the bubaline Dicer1 biocomputationally characterized to determine the phylogenetic signature among higher eukaryotes. The evolutionary tree revealed that all the transcript variants of Dicer1 belonging to a specific species were within the same node and the sequences belonging to primates, rodents and lagomorphs, avians and reptiles formed independent clusters. The bubaline dicer1 is closely related to that of cattle and other ruminants and significantly divergent from dicer of lower species such as tapeworm, sea urchin and fruit fly. Evolutionary divergence analysis conducted using MEGA6 software indicated that dicer has undergone purifying selection over the time. Seventeen divergent sequences, representing each of the families/taxa were selected to study the specific regions of positive vis-à-vis negative selection using different models like single likelihood ancestor counting, fixed effects likelihood, and random effects likelihood of Datamonkey server. Comparative analysis of the domain structure revealed that Dicer1 is conserved across mammalian species while variation both in terms of length of Dicer enzyme and presence or absence of domain is evident in the lower organisms.
Acoustic Microphone Geometry Calibration: An overview and experimental evaluation of state-of-the-art algorithms

Today, we are often surrounded by devices with one or more microphones, such as smartphones, laptops, and wireless microphones. If they are part of an acoustic sensor network, their distribution in the environment can be beneficially exploited for various speech processing tasks. However, applications like speaker localization, speaker tracking, and speech enhancement by beamforming avail themselves of the geometrical configuration of the sensors. Therefore, acoustic microphone geometry calibration has recently become a very active field of research. This article provides an application-oriented, comprehensive survey of existing methods for microphone position self-calibration, which will be categorized by the measurements they use and the scenarios they can calibrate. Selected methods will be evaluated comparatively with real-world recordings.
A GPU‐based Approach for Massive Model Rendering with Frame‐to‐Frame Coherence

Rendering massive 3D models in real‐time has long been recognized as a very challenging problem because of the limited computational power and memory space available in a workstation. Most existing rendering techniques, especially level of detail (LOD) processing, have suffered from their sequential execution natures. We present a GPU‐based approach which enables interactive rendering of large 3D models with hundreds of millions of triangles. Our work contributes to the massive rendering research in two ways. First, we present a simple and efficient mesh simplification algorithm towards GPU architecture. Second, we propose a novel GPU out‐of‐core approach that adopts a frame‐to‐frame coherence scheme in order to minimize the high communication cost between CPU and GPU. Our results show that the parallel algorithm of mesh simplification and the GPU out‐of‐core approach significantly improve the overall rendering performance.
An Intelligent Genetic Algorithm for Mining Classification Rules in Large Datasets

Genetic algorithm is a popular classification algorithm which creates a random population of candidate solutions and makes them to evolve into a suitable accurate solution for a given problem by processing them iteratively for several generations. During each generation the training data set is accessed by the genetic algorithm only for the population member's fitness calculation and no other extra knowledge about the problem domain is extracted from the training data set. Even the domain knowledge stored in the chromosome code of the population may be lost in the future generations due to genetic operations. All the genetic operations like crossover and mutation are probability based and they do not depend upon the domain knowledge. This phenomenon makes the genetic algorithm to converge slowly. This paper proposes a genetic algorithm which tries to gain maximum knowledge in between the generations and store them in the form of knowledge chromosomes. The gained knowledge is used to make predictions about the search space and to guide the search process to an area with potential solutions in the subsequent generations. This makes the genetic algorithm to converge quickly which in turn reduces the learning cost. The experiments show that the run time is reduced considerably when compared with the state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithm.