Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nesting-Safe Recoverable Linearizability: Modular Constructions for Non-Volatile Memory

We presents a novel abstract individual-process crash-recovery model for non-volatile memory, which enables modularity, so that complex recoverable objects can be constructed in a modular manner from simpler recoverable base objects. Within the framework of this model, we define nesting-safe recoverable linearizability (NRL) -- a novel correctness condition that captures the requirements for nesting recoverable objects. Informally, NRL allows the recovery code to extend the interval of the failed operation until the recovery code succeeds to complete (possibly after multiple failures and recovery attempts). Unlike previous correctness definitions, the NRL condition implies that, following recovery, an implemented (higher-level) recoverable operation is able to complete its invocation of a base-object operation and obtain its response. We present algorithms for nesting-safe recoverable primitives, namely, recoverable versions of widely-used primitive shared-memory operations such as read, write, test-and-set and compare-and-swap, which can be used to implement higher-level recoverable objects. We then exemplify how these recoverable base objects can be used for constructing a recoverable counter object. Finally, we prove an impossibility result on wait-free implementations of recoverable test-and-set (TAS) objects from read, write and TAS operations, thus demonstrating that our model also facilitates rigorous analysis of the limitations of recoverable concurrent objects.
2D-Stack: A scalable lock-free stack design that continuously relaxes semantics for better performance

In this report, we propose an efficient lock-free concurrent stack design with tunable and tenable relaxed semantics to allow for better performance. The design is materialized by a shared memory distributed stack design that allow for a continuous monotonic trade of weaker semantics for better throughput performance. Concurrent stacks have an inherent scalability bottleneck due to their single access point for both push and pop operations. Elimination and semantics relaxation have been proposed in the literature to address this problem. Semantic relaxation has the potential and flexibility to reach monotonically very high throughput. Previous solutions could not fully leverage this potential. We propose a new two-dimensional design that can achieve this by exploiting disjoint access parallelism in one dimension and locality in the other. This is achieved through distributing the stack in form of sub-stacks that are accessed independently in parallel. Load balancing is used to keep a balanced number of operations on individual sub-stacks. We also provide tight relaxation bounds for the behaviour of our algorithm. We compare experimentally to previous work, with respect to throughput and relaxed behaviour observed, on di fferent relaxation and concurrency settings. The results show that our algorithm signi cantly outperform all other algorithms in terms of performance, while maintaining better quality in contrast to other designs with relaxed semantics.
Evaluation of active wearable assistive devices with human posture reproduction using a humanoid robot*

ABSTRACT This study proposes a quantitative evaluation method for assessing active wearable assistive devices that can efficiently support the human body. We utilize a humanoid robot to simulate human users wearing assistive devices owing to various advantages offered by the robot such as quantitative torque measurement from sensors and highly repeatable motion. In this study, we propose a scheme for estimating the supportive torques supplied by a device called stationary torque replacement. To validate the reliability of this evaluation method by using a humanoid robot, we conducted measurements of human muscular activity during assisted motion. Analysis of the measured muscle activity revealed that a humanoid robot closely simulates the actual usage of assistive devices. Finally, we showed the feasibility of the proposed evaluation method through an experiment with the humanoid robot platform HRP-4 and the Muscle Suit active assistive device. With the proposed method, the supportive effects of the assistive device could be measured quantitatively in terms of the static supportive torque acting directly on the body of a simulated human user. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
5,6-DiHETE attenuates vascular hyperpermeability by inhibiting Ca2+ elevation in endothelial cells[S]

Although more than 100 lipid metabolites have been identified, their bioactivities remain unknown. In a previous study, we discovered that the production of several lipid metabolites in the intestines dramatically changed in colitis. Of these metabolites, 5,6-dihydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (DiHETE) possesses novel anti-inflammatory activity in the vasculature. In this study, we used mouse and human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) models to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the vascular activity of lipid metabolites, particularly those related to the release of histamine, a major proinflammatory mediator that stimulates endothelial cells to produce NO, a mediator of vascular relaxation and hyperpermeability, by activating intracellular Ca2+ concentration-dependent signaling. In a mouse ear, the administration of 5,6-DiHETE did not induce inflammatory reactions, and pretreatment with 5,6-DiHETE inhibited histamine-induced inflammation, specifically vascular dilation and hyperpermeability. In an isolated mouse aorta, 5,6-DiHETE treatment did not influence vascular contraction but attenuated acetylcholine-induced vascular relaxation. In HUVECs, treatment with 5,6-DiHETE inhibited histamine-induced endothelial barrier disruption and inhibited the production of NO. Most notably, 5,6-DiHETE inhibited histamine-induced increases in intracellular Ca2+ concentrations in HUVECs. Our findings suggest that 5,6-DiHETE attenuates vascular hyperpermeability during inflammation by inhibiting endothelial Ca2+ elevation, which might lead to a novel pharmacological strategy against inflammatory diseases.
A Multilevel Approach to Stakeholder Engagement in the Formulation of a Clinical Data Research Network

Objectives: To ensure meaningful engagement of stakeholders (patients, clinicians, and communities) in developing the Mid-South Clinical Data Research Network (MS-CDRN), we implemented a comprehensive, multilevel approach: (1) identify barriers to involving stakeholders in governance, network design, and implementation; (2) engage stakeholders in priority setting and research topic generation; (3) develop strategies to fully integrate stakeholders in CDRN governance and oversight; and (4) solicit guidance on patient-centered tools and strategies for recruiting research participants. Methods: We engaged stakeholders: (1) as integral research team members; (2) on oversight and advisory committees; (3) as consultants (using Community Engagement Studios); and (4) through interviews and surveys. We recruited stakeholders from community health centers, churches, barbershops, health fairs, a volunteer registry, and a patient portal. We prioritized recruitment from populations often underrepresented in research. Results: During the first 18 months, we engaged 5670 stakeholders in developing the MS-CDRN. These were research team members and on governance committees (N=10), consultants (N=58), survey respondents (N=5543), and interviewees (N=59). Stakeholders identified important barriers and facilitators to engagement, developed stakeholder-informed policies, provided feedback on priority topics and research questions, and developed an intake process for data requests and interventional studies that included reviewing for appropriate patient-centeredness, patient engagement, and dissemination. Discussion: Multilevel stakeholder engagement is a novel systematic approach to developing a meaningful patient-centered and patient-engaged research program. This approach allows ongoing input from highly engaged stakeholders while leveraging focused input from larger, more diverse groups to enhance the patient-centeredness of research and increase relevance to broader audiences.
Functional Outcome of Modified Weaver Dunn Technique for Acromioclavicular Joint Dislocation

Background The debate about the ideal surgical procedure for acromioclavicular joint (ACJ) dislocation is still unresolved and newer techniques are being evolved continuously. The present study evaluates functional outcome of ACJ reconstruction using the modified Weaver Dunn procedure Materials and Methods 35 patients (26 males, 9 females) with ACJ dislocation, between the age group of 18–48 years (mean age 31 years), were operated using modified Weaver Dunn procedure at our center from May 2005 to June 2010. The dominant side was involved in 25 patients (22 right, 13 left). The mean period from the time of injury to the surgery was 14 days (range 4–26 days). All the patients were assessed with Oxford shoulder score and the time required to return to preinjury level was recorded Results At the mean followup of 95 months (range 72–120 months), the mean Oxford Shoulder Score improved from 25 ± 7.2 to 43 ± 6.9. 85% (30 out of 35) patients had satisfactory results, while 15% (5 out of 35) had mild shoulder dysfunction using this scoring system. Five patients had radiological evidence of Grade 2 ACJ subluxation. Out of these five patients, two developed ossification around the coracoclavicular ligament. Three patients had intermittent mild pain without any functional disability, and one had a moderate restriction of shoulder movements Conclusion ACJ reconstruction, using the modified Weaver Dunn procedure in ACJ dislocation, is a reproducible procedure and provides a good functional outcome
Brief Announcement: Simple and Local Independent Set Approximation

We bound the performance guarantees that follow from Turán-like bounds for unweighted and weighted independent sets in bounded-degree graphs. In particular, a randomized approach of Boppana forms a simple 1-round distributed algorithm, as well as a streaming and preemptive online algorithm. We show it gives a tight (Δ+1)/2-approximation in unweighted graphs of maximum degree Δ, which is best possible for 1-round distributed algorithms. For weighted graphs, it gives only a (Δ+1)-approximation, but a simple modification results in an asymptotic expected 0.529(Δ+1)-approximation.
Clinical and laboratory standards institute versus European committee for antimicrobial susceptibility testing guidelines for interpretation of carbapenem antimicrobial susceptibility results for Escherichia coli in urinary tract infection (UTI)

BACKGROUND: Carbapenems show excellent activity against resistant uropathogens, and they are the antibiotics of choice for urinary tract infections (UTIs). The choice of carbapenem prescription is strongly influenced by antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) report. With the publication of recent AST guidelines by the European Committee on AST (EUCAST), we were curious to evaluate the difference in results between Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and the EUCAST guidelines for the interpretation of carbapenems. METHODS: During a period of 1 year, midstream urine specimens received in the laboratory were cultured by conventional techniques and 2932 of them grew significant colony counts of Escherichia coli. Out of them, 501 E. coli isolates which were resistant to at least six first-line antibiotics were further subjected to second-line antimicrobials imipenem and meropenem, reported by E-tests (bioMerieux, France). The E-test results were interpreted by both CLSI 2016 and EUCAST 6.0 (2016) guidelines. Weighted kappa was used to determine absolute agreement, and McNemar's Chi-square test was used to test the difference in proportions of susceptibility between two methods, respectively. RESULTS: Taking CLSI guidelines as a gold standard, there was 100% sensitivity in a susceptible category by the EUCAST guidelines for both the carbapenems. Weighted kappa showed good and moderate agreement between them for imipenem and meropenem, respectively. However, McNemar Chi-square test in the nonsusceptible category between the two tests was 9.38% and 33.03% for imipenem and meropenem, respectively, and they were highly significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A laboratory can follow EUCAST guidelines as well and the guidelines are more useful in urinary concentrated antibiotics such as carbapenems. Further other antibiotics need to be evaluated by both these guidelines.
Brief Announcement: Persistent Multi-Word Compare-and-Swap

This brief announcement presents a fundamental concurrent primitive for persistent memory - a persistent atomic multi-word compare-and-swap (PMCAS). We present a novel algorithm carefully crafted to ensure that atomic updates to a multitude of words modified by the PMCAS are persisted correctly. Our algorithm leverages hardware transactional memory (HTM) for concurrency control, and has a total of 3 persist barriers in its critical path. We also overview variants based on just the compare-and-swap (CAS) instruction and a hybrid of CAS and HTM.
Direct quantification of 3′ terminal 2′-O-methylation of small RNAs by RT-qPCR

Modification of nucleotides significantly increases the diversity of functional nucleic acids. As one of the most common modifications of RNAs, methylation of the 2′-hydroxyl-group of ribonucleotides (2′-O-methylation) has been found in various RNAs in eukaryotes. However, due to the lack of an efficient method for quantifying small RNA 3′ terminal 2′-O-methylation, it is difficult to monitor the dynamic change of 3′ terminal 2′-O-methylation during various biological processes. Capitalizing on the finding that 3′ terminal RNA 2′-O-methylation can inhibit the activity of poly(A) polymerase, an enzyme that can add the poly(A)-tail to RNA, we develop a method by which the 2′-O-methylation level of small RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), can be directly quantified based on the poly(A)-tailed RT-qPCR technique. With this method, we successfully determine the 2′-O-methylation level of miRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana and mouse lung tissue, piRNA in human seminal plasma, and monitor the alteration of miRNA 2′-O-methylation in Drosophila Schneider 2 cells after knockdown of Drosophila methyltransferase protein Hua enhancer 1 (DmHen-1).
Effects of interaural delay, center frequency, and no more than "slight" hearing loss on precision of binaural processing: Empirical data and quantitative modeling.

This study assessed how precision of binaural processing is affected by center frequency (CF), interaural temporal disparity (ITD), and listeners' hearing status. Tonal signals and 100-Hz-wide Gaussian noise maskers were employed at CFs ranging between 250 and 8000 Hz, in octave steps. In addition, for CFs of 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz, transposed maskers and signals were employed. All listeners had no greater than "slight" hearing losses (i.e., no thresholds greater than 25 dB HL). Across all CFs and ITDs tested, binaural detection thresholds were elevated for listeners whose absolute thresholds at 4 kHz exceeded 7.5 dB HL. That outcome is consistent with results from Bernstein and Trahiotis [(2016). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 140, 3540-3548]. Quantitative predictions of binaural detection thresholds derived via a comprehensive interaural correlation-based model of binaural processing were highly accurate across the entire set of data. The modeling results suggest that elevated thresholds from listeners having small hearing losses stem from elevated levels of stimulus-dependent, additive internal noise. They do not appear to stem from increased levels of noise within the central binaural comparator or from reduced sensitivity to changes in interaural correlation produced by the addition of the signal to the masker.
Development of Fluffy Screen System and Field Trial at a Shopping Mall

Digital signage has been used for services such as advertisement and guidance in public spaces. The use of interactive digital signage has been increasing in recent years. To make full use of the interactivity of digital signage, it is necessary for people to start to interact. In this study, we made a hypothesis that fluffy objects have attraction affordance, and aimed to verify this hypothesis by developing a fluffy screen system. The proposed system is inflated with air. Then, multiple touch inputs from the outside of the screen are detected by cameras inside the screen, and clustering is performed. The information is presented by LCD projectors based on the results of clustering. A field trial in a shopping mall was conducted to verify the hypothesis. A very high interaction rate was realized during the trial of four hours. The results strongly support the hypothesis.
Practical Accountability of Secret Processes

The US federal court system is exploring ways to improve the accountability of electronic surveillance, an opaque process often involving cases sealed from public view and tech companies subject to gag orders against informing surveilled users. One judge has proposed publicly releasing some metadata about each case on a paper cover sheet as a way to balance the competing goals of (1) secrecy, so the target of an investigation does not discover and sabotage it, and (2) accountability, to assure the public that surveillance powers are not misused or abused. Inspired by the courts’ accountability challenge, we illustrate how accountability and secrecy are simultaneously achievable when modern cryptography is brought to bear. Our system improves configurability while preserving secrecy, offering new tradeoffs potentially more palatable to the risk-averse court system. Judges, law enforcement, and companies publish commitments to surveillance actions, argue in zero-knowledge that their behavior is consistent, and compute aggregate surveillance statistics by multi-party computation (MPC). We demonstrate that these primitives perform efficiently at the scale of the federal judiciary. To do so, we implement a hierarchical form of MPC that mirrors the hierarchy of the court system. We also develop statements in succinct zero-knowledge (SNARKs) whose specificity can be tuned to calibrate the amount of information released. All told, our proposal not only offers the court system a flexible range of options for enhancing accountability in the face of necessary secrecy, but also yields a general framework for accountability in a broader class of secret information processes.
Repeatability of language fMRI lateralization and localization metrics in brain tumor patients

To assess the within‐subject intra‐scan session repeatability of language functional MRI (fMRI) activation maps in patients with brain tumors who were undergoing presurgical fMRI as part of their preoperative clinical workup. Sentence completion (SC) and silent word generation (SWG) tasks were used for language localization and hemispheric lateralization for identifying the primary language cortex. Within‐subject repeatability for each of these paradigms was assessed in right‐handed patients—37 for SC and 78 for SWG. Repeatability of activation maps between consecutive runs of the same task within the same scan session was evaluated by comparing lateralization indexes in holohemispheric and regional language areas. Displacement of center of activation between consecutive runs was also used to assess the repeatability of activation maps. Holohemispheric and regional language lateralization results demonstrated high intra‐subject intra‐scan repeatability when lateralization indices were calculated using threshold‐dependent and threshold‐independent approaches. The high repeatability is demonstrated both when centers of mass of activation are considered within key eloquent regions of the brain, such as Broca's area and Wernicke's area, as well as in larger more inclusive expressive and receptive language regions. We examined two well‐known and widely accepted language tasks that are known to activate eloquent language cortex. We have demonstrated very high degree of repeatability at a single‐subject level within single scan sessions of language mapping in a large cohort of brain tumor patients undergoing presurgical fMRI across several years at our institution.
Fast Secure Computation for Small Population over the Internet

Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) with small number of parties is an interesting area of research, primarily due to its ability to model most real-life MPC applications and the simplicity and efficiency of the resulting protocols. In this work, we present efficient, constant-round 3-party (3PC) and 4-party (4PC) protocols in the honest-majority setting that achieve strong security notions of fairness (corrupted parties receive their output only if all honest parties receive output) and guaranteed output delivery (corrupted parties cannot prevent honest parties from receiving their output). Being constant-round, our constructions are suitable for Internet-like high-latency networks and are built from garbled circuits (GC). Assuming the minimal model of pairwise-private channels, we present two protocols that involve computation and communication of a single GC-- (a) a 4-round 3PC with fairness, (b) a 5-round 4PC with guaranteed output delivery. Empirically, our protocols are on par with the best known 3PC protocol of Mohassel et al. [CCS 2015] that only achieves security with selective abort, in terms of the computation time, LAN runtime, WAN runtime and communication cost. In fact, our 4PC outperforms the 3PC of Mohassel et al. significantly in terms of per-party computation and communication cost. With an extra GC, we improve the round complexity of our 4PC to four rounds. The only 4PC in our setting, given by Ishai et al. [CRYPTO 2015], involves 12 GCs. Assuming an additional broadcast channel, we present a 5-round 3PC with guaranteed output delivery that involves computation and communication of a single GC. A broadcast channel is inevitable in this setting for achieving guaranteed output delivery, owing to an impossibility result in the literature. The overall broadcast communication of our protocol is nominal and most importantly, is independent of the circuit size. This protocol too induces a nominal overhead compared to the protocol of Mohassel et al.
Effects of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents on overall survival of International Prognostic Scoring System Low/Intermediate-1 risk, transfusion-independent myelodysplastic syndrome patients: a cohort study

Clinical guidelines recommend the use of erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESA) in anemic patients with lower risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)[1][1]–[4][2] and two registration trials for ESA have just been completed. [5][3],[6][4] We conducted a retrospective study in MDS patients selected by
Near-Optimal Distributed Routing with Low Memory

Distributed \em routing is one of the most central and fundamental problems in the area of Distributed Graph Algorithms. It was extensively studied for almost thirty years. Nevertheless, the currently existing solutions for this problem require either prohibitively large construction (aka preprocessing) time, or prohibitively large memory usage either during the construction or during the routing phase, and suffer from suboptimal labels and tables' sizes. We devise a distributed routing scheme that enjoys the best of all worlds. Specifically, its construction time and memory requirements during the construction phase are near-optimal, and so is also the tradeoff between the sizes of routing tables and labels on the one hand, and the stretch on the other. On the way to this result, we also improve upon existing solutions for the distributed exact \em tree routing problem. Previous solutions require Ω(√ ) memory, and provide tables and labels of size O(log n) and O(log^2 n), respectively. Our solution, on the other hand, requires just O(log n) memory, and has tables of size O(1), and labels of size O(log n). These bounds match the bounds of the best-known centralized solution.