Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formal Analysis of Load Balancing in Microservices with Scenario Calculus

Load balancing plays a crucial role in realising the benefits of microservices, especially to achieve elastic scalability and performance optimisation. However, it is different from load balancing for virtual machines, because workloads on microservices are harder to predict and the number of services in the systems is large. In this paper, we formalise load balance as an emergent property of the microservices ecosystem, and employ scenario calculus to formally analyse the impact of scheduling on service capability and scalability. We discovered that elastic round robin scheduling is highly scalable but the service capability is limited by the slowest microservice instance. In contrast, shortest waiting queue scheduling is less scalable, but the service capability is higher.
Capsid Structure of dsRNA Fungal Viruses

Most fungal, double-stranded (ds) RNA viruses lack an extracellular life cycle stage and are transmitted by cytoplasmic interchange. dsRNA mycovirus capsids are based on a 120-subunit T = 1 capsid, with a dimer as the asymmetric unit. These capsids, which remain structurally undisturbed throughout the viral cycle, nevertheless, are dynamic particles involved in the organization of the viral genome and the viral polymerase necessary for RNA synthesis. The atomic structure of the T = 1 capsids of four mycoviruses was resolved: the L-A virus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ScV-L-A), Penicillium chrysogenum virus (PcV), Penicillium stoloniferum virus F (PsV-F), and Rosellinia necatrix quadrivirus 1 (RnQV1). These capsids show structural variations of the same framework, with 60 asymmetric or symmetric homodimers for ScV-L-A and PsV-F, respectively, monomers with a duplicated similar domain for PcV, and heterodimers of two different proteins for RnQV1. Mycovirus capsid proteins (CP) share a conserved α-helical domain, although the latter may carry different peptides inserted at preferential hotspots. Insertions in the CP outer surface are likely associated with enzymatic activities. Within the capsid, fungal dsRNA viruses show a low degree of genome compaction compared to reoviruses, and contain one to two copies of the RNA-polymerase complex per virion.
ACCORD: Automated Change Coordination across Independently Administered Cloud Services

It is very hard to coordinate changes across independently administered cloud services in a dependable manner due to several features of its service-oriented architecture: (i) services are often unaware of how a change will affect other services; (ii) impacted services may respond to changes in diverse ways; and (iii) the asynchronous nature of cross-service communication can introduce subtle errors. To tackle these challenges, our major contribution in this paper is a platform for Automated Change COoRDination (ACCORD) across independently administered cloud services. ACCORD (i) provides the abstractions and protocols for services to explicitly register direct dependencies on shared resources and automatically tracks cross-service transitive dependencies; (ii) allows each service to specify custom change coordination policies; and (iii) enables dependable change coordination in several real-world use-cases with minimal overhead to cloud administrators.
Blind Identification Based on Expectation-Maximization Algorithm Coupled With Blocked Rhee–Glynn Smoothing Estimator

In this letter, we consider blind estimation of channel parameters over a frequency-selective channel. We use a blocked Rhee–Glynn smoothing estimator to derive E-step in the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The proposed algorithm copes with the curse of dimensionality of a forward–backward algorithm; meanwhile, it is easy to parallelize, which is amenable to a modern computing hardware and speeds up the estimation of channel parameters. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm is close to the Baum–Welch algorithm in terms of convergence of channel coefficients and outperforms the EM algorithm coupled with a joined two-filter smoothing algorithm in terms of convergence of channel coefficients and running time.
Screening of genes associated with inflammatory responses in the endolymphatic sac reveals underlying mechanisms for autoimmune inner ear diseases

The current study analyzed gene expression profiles of the endolymphatic sac (ES) in rats and identified expressed genes, present in the human and rat ES, to reveal key hubs for inflammatory responses. Microarray data (accession no. E-MEXP-3022) were obtained from the European Bioinformatics Institute database, including three biological replicates of ES plus dura tissues and three replicates of pure dura tissues form rats. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened using the Linear Model for Microarray data method and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using data from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins database followed by a module analysis via Clustering with Overlapping Neighborhood Expansion. Function enrichment analysis was performed using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery online tool. A total of 612 DEGs were identified, including 396 upregulated and 216 downregulated genes. Gene ontology term enrichment analysis indicated DEGs were associated with cell adhesion, including α5-integrin (Itga1) and secreted phosphoprotein 1 (Spp1); T cell co-stimulation, including C-C chemokine ligand (Ccl)21 and Ccl19; and the toll-like receptor signaling pathway, including toll-like receptor (Tlr)2, Tlr7 and Tlr8. These conclusions were supported by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses revealing extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, including Itga1 and Spp1; leukocyte transendothelial migration, includingclaudin-4 (Cldn4); and malaria, including Tlr2. The hub roles of Itga1, Cd24 and Spp1 were revealed by calculating three topological properties of the PPI network. Ccl21, Ccl19 and Cldn4 were demonstrated to be crucial following significant module analysis according to the corresponding threshold, which revealed they were enriched in inflammation pathways. Tlr7, Tlr2, granzyme m and Tlr8 were common genes associated with inflammatory responses in rat and human ES. In conclusion, abnormal expression of the aforementioned inflammation-associated genes may be associated with the development of autoimmune inner ear diseases.
Sex differences in relation patterns between health-related quality of life of older adults and its correlates: a population-based cross-sectional study in Madeira, Portugal

Abstract A population-based cross-sectional study aimed to examine sex differences in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of older adults, and investigate whether the relation patterns between HRQoL and its correlates differed between sexes. A stratified proportional and representative sample included 802 volunteers, aged 60–79. HRQoL (36-item Short Form Health Survey), functional fitness (Senior Fitness Test), physical activity (PA) (Baecke questionnaire), demographic information and health features (questionnaires) were assessed. Men showed significantly higher HRQoL (P<0.001). Body mass index, body strength, aerobic endurance, PA, depressive symptoms, falls, and living alone were significantly related to HRQoL. With sex as moderator, these relations were not significant, except for PA (β=0.12, P=0.004). A significant interaction of sex with PA on HRQoL (β=0.08, P=0.037) was found, indicating that this relation was higher in men. A similar relation pattern was found for HRQoL physical component. HRQoL and its correlates differed between sexes, demanding a sex specific approach to promote HRQoL.
Predictive value of a diagnostic block in focal nerve injury with neuropathic pain when surgery is considered

Object In patients with focal nerve injury and neuropathic pain cutting the nerve to obtain permanent pain reduction can be considered. Surgery is indicated only if a diagnostic nerve block provides temporary pain relief. We evaluated the predictive value of a block on the outcome of surgery. Methods In total, three blocks were performed at two week intervals. Patients were blinded to injections containing lidocaine 1% and a placebo was included. Surgery was offered regardless of the effect of the blocks. Twenty-four patients received 72 blocks. Sixteen patients opted for surgery, 5 patients refrained from surgery, and in 3 the blocks provided permanent pain relief. The predictive ability of the block on the outcome of surgery was assessed by calculating the area under a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC). Results The AUC of the first lidocaine block was 0.35 with a 95% confidence interval from 0.077 to 0.62. At 95% confidence (two-sided), the AUC is less than 0.62, and hence the predictive ability of the block was poor. The outcome of the second lidocaine block and saline block did not change the conclusion of the first block. Conclusions We conclude that the use of blocks to select patients for surgery should be critically appraised. Perspective A pain relieving response to one open block is currently considered mandatory before patients with focal nerve injury and neuropathic pain are offered surgery. Blinded blocks including a placebo show that responses for selection should be carefully interpreted because they may not be as predictive as generally presumed.
High-Efficiency CMOS RF-to-DC Rectifier Based on Dynamic Threshold Reduction Technique for Wireless Charging Applications

This paper presents a high-efficiency CMOS rectifier based on an improved dynamic threshold reduction technique (DTR). The proposed DTR consists of a clamper circuit that biases the gates of pMOS diode switches through a capacitor and diode-connected pMOS transistor. The clamper is used to insert a negative dc level to the input RF signal; therefore, more negative RF signal can be obtained to bias the gates of the main rectifying pMOS devices during its conduction phase. This mechanism reduces the threshold voltage of the main pMOS transistors and increases their sensitivity to the RF input signal. The proposed rectifier is implemented in a 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology and tested. The measurement shows a peak power conversion efficiency of 86% and an output voltage of 0.52 V at an input power of −16.5 dBm and an input frequency of 402 MHz. The core area of chip excluding measurement pads is 0.024 mm2.
Three-Tier Capacity and Traffic Allocation for Core, Edges, and Devices for Mobile Edge Computing

In order to satisfy the 5G requirements of ultra-low latency, mobile edge computing (MEC)-based architecture, composed of three-tier nodes, core, edges, and devices, is proposed. In MEC-based architecture, previous studies focused on the control-plane issue, i.e., how to allocate traffic to be processed at different nodes to meet this ultra-low latency requirement. Also important is how to allocate the capacity to different nodes in the management plane so as to establish a minimal-capacity network. The objectives of this paper is to solve two problems: 1) to allocate the capacity of all nodes in MEC-based architecture so as to provide a minimal-capacity network and 2) to allocate the traffic to satisfy the latency percentage constraint, i.e., at least a percentage of traffic satisfying the latency constraint. In order to achieve these objectives, a two-phase iterative optimization (TPIO) method is proposed to try to optimize capacity and traffic allocation in MEC-based architecture. TPIO iteratively uses two phases to adjust capacity and traffic allocation respectively because they are tightly coupled. In the first phase, using queuing theory calculates the optimal traffic allocation under fixed allocated capacity, while in the second phase, allocated capacity is further reduced under fixed traffic allocation to satisfy the latency percentage constraint. Simulation results show that MEC-based architecture can save about 20.7% of capacity of two-tier architecture. Further, an extra 12.2% capacity must be forfeited when the percentage of satisfying latency is 90%, compared to 50%.
Insights on Apache Spark Usage by Mining Stack Overflow Questions

Apache Spark is one of the most popular big data tools. Despite its popularity, there are no studies regarding its overall usage among software developers. As such, essential questions remain unanswered. For instance, it is not known what the common issues faced by Spark users are, what the most popular Spark libraries are, or what technologies are most commonly used together with Spark. In this paper, we mine Stack Overflow questions and try to shed some light into the above issues. Specifically, we first apply Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to Stack Overflow questions and obtain the main topics of discussion. By computing previously proposed metrics and a novel modification, we provide insights into Spark usage while taking question view count into account. Further insights are then given by applying newly proposed metrics to the question tags. Temporal trends are finally discussed after analyzing the proposed metrics over time.
Musculoskeletal Education in Medical Schools: A Survey of Allopathic and Osteopathic Medical Students

Background: Musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders are one of the most common causes of disability and emergency department and physician visits in the United States. However, there is very little consistency in how physicians in training are prepared to treat MSK disorders. On the basis of published reports, medical school graduates have a relative lack of cognitive mastery in MSK medicine, even with the recent increase in instruction. This study sought to compare MSK education at an allopathic medical school with that at an osteopathic medical school. Methods: An anonymous survey of students in medical school graduate years 2, 3, and 4 at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (allopathic) and College of Osteopathic Medicine (osteopathic) was conducted. Questions were structured into three main categories: demographic information, content of the current MSK curriculum, and opinions regarding importance, instruction, and assessment of MSK education. Results: As of 2010, 83% of medical schools require MSK courses because of the United States Bone and Joint Initiative to incorporate such coursework into core curriculum. Yet only 54% of surveyed students thought that their MSK education was adequate. A greater portion of osteopathic students (57.1%) compared with allopathic students (26.8%) thought that their MSK curriculum is adequate, and as a consequence, 36.6% of allopathic students thought that they were inadequately prepared for the MSK content of US medical licensing examinations compared with 8.1% of osteopathic students. Further curriculum development and improvement is needed to advance physicians' abilities to address and treat MSK disorders. Medical students surveyed feel that this goal can be accomplished by emphasizing MSK education in third and fourth years of medical school. Conclusion: These findings highlight differences in MSK education between an allopathic and osteopathic medical school. Further standardization of the curriculum in medical schools may help improve the quality of teaching student comfort levels of new physicians. Level of Evidence: Level III
Relative sensitivity of explicit re-aiming and implicit motor adaptation

It has become increasingly clear that learning in visuomotor rotation tasks, which induce an angular mismatch between movements of the hand and visual feedback, largely results from the combined effort of two distinct processes: implicit motor adaptation and explicit re-aiming. However, it remains unclear how these two processes work together to produce trial-by-trial learning. Previous work has found that implicit motor adaptation operates automatically, regardless of task relevancy, and saturates for large errors. In contrast, little is known about the automaticity of explicit re-aiming and its sensitivity to error magnitude. Here we sought to characterize the automaticity and sensitivity function of these two processes to determine how they work together to facilitate performance in a visuomotor rotation task. We found that implicit adaptation scales relative to the visual error, but only for small perturbations – replicating prior work. In contrast, explicit re-aiming scales linearly for all tested perturbation sizes. Furthermore, the consistency of the perturbation appears to diminish both implicit adaptation and explicit re-aiming, but to different degrees. Whereas implicit adaptation always displayed a response to the error, explicit re-aiming was only engaged when errors displayed a minimal degree of consistency. This comports with the idea that implicit adaptation is obligatory and less flexible, while explicit re-aiming is volitional and flexible.
Indoor Depth Estimation from Single Spherical Images

In this paper we propose a framework for inferring depth from a single spherical image, which can be coupled to any generic planar image monocular depth estimation algorithm. It consists of first inferring depth from overlapping planar patches extracted from the spherical image, and then using a regularized minimization scheme to stitch the patches back to the sphere. We test three state-of-the-art convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methodologies as baseline methods, and for all of them the proposed approach presented better results than applying the CNN directly to the equirectangular projection and to disjoint sections of the sphere according to the scale-invariant mean squared error (SIMSE) metric.
Identification of Distinct Unmutated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Subsets in Mice Based on Their T Cell Dependency

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can be divided into prognostically distinct subsets with stereotyped or non-stereotyped, mutated or unmutated B cell receptors (BCRs). Individual subsets vary in antigen specificity and origin, but the impact of antigenic pressure on the CLL BCR repertoire remains unknown. Here, we employed IgH. TEμ mice that spontaneously develop CLL, expressing mostly unmutated BCRs of which ~35% harbor VH11-2/Vκ14-126 and recognize phosphatidylcholine. Proportions of VH11/Vκ14-expressing CLL were increased in the absence of functional germinal centers in IgH. TEμ mice deficient for CD40L or activation-induced cytidine deaminase. Conversely, in vivo T cell-dependent immunization decreased the proportions of VH11/Vκ14-expressing CLL. Furthermore, CLL onset was accelerated by enhanced BCR signaling in Siglec-G−/− mice or in mice expressing constitutively active Bruton's tyrosine kinase. Transcriptional profiling revealed that VH11 and non-VH11 CLL differed in the upregulation of specific pathways implicated in cell signaling and metabolism. Interestingly, principal component analyses using the 148 differentially expressed genes revealed that VH11 and non-VH11 CLL clustered with BCR-stimulated and anti-CD40-stimulated B cells, respectively. We identified an expression signature consisting of 13 genes that were differentially expressed in a larger panel of T cell-dependent non-VH11 CLL compared with T cell-independent VH11/Vκ14 or mutated IgH. TEμ CLL. Parallel differences in the expression of these 13 signature genes were observed between heterogeneous and stereotypic human unmutated CLL. Our findings provide evidence for two distinct unmutated CLL subsets with a specific transcriptional signature: one is T cell-independent and B-1 cell-derived while the other arises upon antigen stimulation in the context of T-cell help.
Thresholding for Medical Image Segmentation for Cancer using Fuzzy Entropy with Level Set Algorithm

Abstract In this study, an effective means for detecting cancer region through different types of medical image segmentation are presented and explained. We proposed a new method for cancer segmentation on the basis of fuzzy entropy with a level set (FELs) thresholding. The proposed method was successfully utilized to segment cancer images and then efficiently performed the segmentation of test ultrasound image, brain MRI, and dermoscopy image compared with algorithms proposed in previous studies. Results showed an excellent performance of the proposed method in detecting cancer image segmentation in terms of accuracy, precision, specificity, and sensitivity measures.
Effects of shoulder strapping in patients with stroke: A randomised control trial

Background Disability post stroke remains a global problem, with upper limb involvement playing a key role. Shoulder strapping is one of the techniques used clinically to address this. Objectives To compare the effect of two shoulder strapping techniques in patients with stroke. Method A longitudinal randomised controlled trial included baseline, weeks one, two and six assessments of 56 participants with upper limb hemiplegia. The participants were assessed for shoulder subluxation, shoulder pain, upper limb motor function and muscle tone. They were randomised into control, longitudinal strapping or circumferential strapping groups. Results Longitudinal strapping had a non-significant decrease in shoulder subluxation and pain (p > 0.05). Circumferential strapping had no significant effect on any outcomes; however, it prevented the shoulder pain from worsening as much as in the control group (p > 0.05). General improvement in upper limb motor function was observed for all three groups. Conclusion Trends in improvement showed that longitudinal strapping could be recommended because it positively influenced shoulder subluxation and pain. Even without significant changes, strapping creates awareness of the limb in patients and caregivers and could be of clinical benefit. Clinical implication Longitudinal strapping of the shoulder in patients with stroke seems to positively influence shoulder subluxation and pain.
Enteric methane emissions, energy partitioning, and energetic efficiency of zebu beef cattle fed total mixed ration silage

Objective The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different feeding levels of a total mixed ration silage-based diet on feed intake, total tract digestion, enteric methane emissions, and energy partitioning in two beef cattle genotypes. Methods Six mature bulls (three Thai natives, and three Thai natives - Charolais crossbreeds) were assigned in a replicated 3×3 Latin square design, with cattle breed genotype in separate squares, three periods of 21 days, and three energy feeding above maintenance levels (1.1, 1.5, and 2.0 MEm, where MEm is metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance). Bulls were placed in a metabolic cage equipped with a ventilated head box respiration system to evaluate digestibility, record respiration gases, and determine energy balance. Results Increasing the feeding level had no significant effect on digestibility but drastically reduced the enteric methane emission rate (p<0.05). Increasing the feeding level also significantly increased the energy retention and utilization efficiency (p<0.01). The Thai native cattle had greater enteric methane emission rate, digestibility, and energy utilization efficiency than the Charolais crossbred cattle (p<0.05). The daily metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance in Thai native cattle (388 kJ/kg BW0.75, where BW0.75 is metabolic body weight) was 15% less than that in Charolais crossbred cattle (444 kJ/kg BW0.75). Conclusion Our results suggested that the greater feeding level in zebu beef cattle fed above maintenance levels resulted in improved energy retention and utilization efficiency because of the reduction in enteric methane energy loss. The results also indicated higher efficiency of metabolisable energy utilization for growth and a lower energy requirement for maintenance in Bos indicus than in Bos taurus.