Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mobi_Causal: a protocol for causal message ordering in mobile computing systems

This paper presents, Mobi_Causal, a new protocol to implement causal ordering in mobile computing systems. The implementation of causal ordering proposed in this paper uses the new timestamping mechanisms proposed by Prakash and Singhal for mobile environments; dependency sequences and hierarchical clocks. Our protocol, compared with previous proposals, is characterized by the elimination of unnecessary inhibition delay in delivering messages while maintaining low message overhead. Our protocol requires minimal resources on mobile hosts and wireless links. The proposed protocol is also scalable and can easily handle dynamic change in the number of participating mobile hosts in the system.
An SDN-based cloud computing architecture and its mathematical model

Software-defined Networking (SDN) has emerged as the dominant programmable network architecture that separates the control plane from the data plane. SDN allows the network administrators and data centers to efficiently and flexibly manage their networking equipment using software that runs on external servers. SDN adopts OpenFLow protocol to communicate between network switch and controller. In this paper, we first establish a SDN-based cloud computing environment via open source OpenFLow switch and controller packages. Thereafter, we extend the functionality of OpenFLow controller to provide load balancing, power-saving, and monitoring mechanisms. To verify the feasibility of our architecture, we also develop a queueing model for SDN and calculate its analytical solution for the steady-state probabilities. The experimental results show that SDN-based environment can provide QoS guaranteed cloud computing services.
Profound Decreases in Dopamine Release in Striatum in Detoxified Alcoholics: Possible Orbitofrontal Involvement

The value of rewards (natural rewards and drugs) is associated with dopamine increases in the nucleus accumbens and varies as a function of context. The prefrontal cortex has been implicated in the context dependency of rewards and in the fixated high value that drugs have in addiction, although the mechanisms are not properly understood. Here we test the hypothesis that the prefrontal cortex regulates the value of rewards by modulating dopamine increases in nucleus accumbens and that this regulation is disrupted in addicted subjects. We used positron emission tomography to evaluate the activity of the prefrontal cortex (measuring brain glucose metabolism with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose) and dopamine increases (measured with [11C]raclopride, a D2/D3 receptor ligand with binding that is sensitive to endogenous dopamine) induced by the stimulant drug methylphenidate in 20 controls and 20 detoxified alcoholics, most of whom smoked. In all subjects, methylphenidate significantly increased dopamine in striatum. In ventral striatum (where the nucleus accumbens is located) and in putamen, dopamine increases were associated with the rewarding effects of methylphenidate (drug liking and high) and were profoundly attenuated in alcoholics (70 and 50% lower than controls, respectively). In controls, but not in alcoholics, metabolism in orbitofrontal cortex (region involved with salience attribution) was negatively associated with methylphenidate-induced dopamine increases in ventral striatum. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the orbitofrontal cortex modulates the value of rewards by regulating the magnitude of dopamine increases in the ventral striatum and that disruption of this regulation may underlie the decreased sensitivity to rewards in addicted subjects.
Transposable element invasions

Transposable elements have an ongoing, largely parasitic interaction with their hosts. We are interested in the timescale of this interaction. In a recent publication, we have examined the sequence divergence between class II DNA transposons from mammalian genomes. We asked whether these sequences undergo a continuing process of turnover, keeping a family as an integrated whole, as members of the family are continually created and lost. Alternatively, we envisaged that elements might have been involved in a burst of amplification, soon after they first occupied a mammalian genome, and the shared ancestry of present-day elements harks back to this initial amplification, a process that we termed a “life cycle. ” We resolved between these processes by estimating the time to common ancestry predicted from the genetic diversity of sequences found in a transposon family, and also estimating, from the mammalian orders that currently possess copies of the family, the time when the family first entered the mammalian genome. These times are approximately the same, supporting the “life cycle” model. This casts light on how far we can infer genetic changes in the past through the study of DNA sequences from the present.
Integrated Cattle Feeding Hedging Strategies, 1972-1976

Most major crop and livestock prices became considerably more variable after 1972, resulting in increased producer price risk. Uncertainty in cattle feeding was compounded in that both input (feeder cattle and feed) and product (fed cattle) prices became quite variable after 1972. This uncertainty, accompanied by considerable losses in cattle feeding during the 1973-1975 period, has made hedging a more desirable option [1, 9]. Several studies have examined a short hedge on live cattle at the beginning of the feeding period as a means of reducing risk and increasing returns to cattle feeders. Selective hedging strategies generally reduced the variance of returns per head as well as improved returns during periods when cash feeding was unprofitable [2, 5]. Routine hedging of every pen clearly reduced profits during periods when cattle prices were rising while providing some protection during cash-feeding loss periods [6]. Feeding live cattle on a cash basis was more profitable than routine hedging prior to 1973 [6].
Notch γ-Secretase Inhibitor Dibenzazepine Attenuates Angiotensin II-Induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in ApoE Knockout Mice by Multiple Mechanisms

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a life-threatening aortic disease in the elderly. Activation of Notch1 pathway plays a critical role in the development of AAA, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the present study, we explored the mechanisms by which Notch1 activation regulates angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced AAA formation and evaluated the therapeutic potential of a new Notch γ-secretase inhibitor, dibenzazepine (DBZ), for the treatment of AAA. Apolipoprotein E knockout (Apo E−/−) mice infused for 4 weeks with Ang II (1000 ng/kg/min, IP) using osmotic mini-pumps were received an intraperitoneal injection of either vehicle or 1 mg/kg/d DBZ. Notch1 signaling was activated in AAA tissue from both Ang II-infused Apo E−/− mice and human undergoing AAA repair in vivo, with increased expression of Notch intracellular domain (NICD) and its target gene Hes1, and this effect was effectively blocked by DBZ. Moreover, infusion of Ang II markedly increased the incidence and severity of AAA in Apo E−/− mice. In contrast, inhibition of Notch activation by DBZ prevented AAA formation in vivo. Furthermore, DBZ markedly prevented Ang II-stimulated accumulation of macrophages and CD4+ T cells, and ERK-mediated angiogenesis, simultaneously reversed Th2 response, in vivo. In conclusion, these findings provide new insight into the multiple mechanisms of Notch signaling involved in AAA formation and suggest that γ-secretase inhibitor DBZ might be a novel therapeutic drug for treating AAAS.
Coupling catch clauses with local declarations

We propose an alternative to the usual try-catch construct, where catch clauses are coupled with the declaration of a local variable, rather than with an arbitrary expression. That is, in case initialization of the local variable fails, they provide an alternative computation which does not depend on such variable. This alternative mechanism subsumes the standard one and allows a more natural and functional programming style. We illustrate such advantages by some paradigmatic examples. The proposal is formalized as an extension of Featherweight Java (FJ) with a type system which can be proved to be sound.
The Association between Sweet Taste Function, Anthropometry, and Dietary Intake in Adults

Variation in ability to detect, recognize, and perceive sweetness may influence food consumption, and eventually chronic nutrition-related conditions such as overweight and obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between sweet taste function, anthropometry, and dietary intake in adults. Participants’ (n = 60; mean age in years = 26, SD = ±7.8) sweet taste function for a range of sweeteners (glucose, fructose, sucrose, sucralose, erythritol, and Rebaudioside A) was assessed by measuring detection and recognition thresholds and sweetness intensity. Height, weight, and waist circumference were also measured, and participants also completed a Food Frequency Questionnaire. There was large inter-individual variation in detection, recognition and sweetness intensity measures. Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed no robust correlations between measures of sweet taste function, anthropometry, and dietary intake, with the exception of suprathreshold intensity, which was moderately correlated with total energy intake (r = 0.23–0.40). One-way analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between the most and least sensitive participants in terms of BMI, waist circumference, and dietary intake for all measures of sweet taste function and sweeteners (all p > 0.01). When stratified into BMI categories, there were no significant differences in any measure of sweet taste function between the normal weight and overweight/obese participants (all p > 0.01). Results show that that sweet taste function is not associated with anthropometry and sweetness intensity measures are the most appropriate measure when assessing links between sweet taste and food consumption.
The Activation of Phytophthora Effector Avr3b by Plant Cyclophilin is Required for the Nudix Hydrolase Activity of Avr3b

Plant pathogens secrete an arsenal of effector proteins to impair host immunity. Some effectors possess enzymatic activities that can modify their host targets. Previously, we demonstrated that a Phytophthora sojae RXLR effector Avr3b acts as a Nudix hydrolase when expressed in planta; and this enzymatic activity is required for full virulence of P. sojae strain P6497 in soybean (Glycine max). Interestingly, recombinant Avr3b produced by E. coli does not have the hydrolase activity unless it was incubated with plant protein extracts. Here, we report the activation of Avr3b by a prolyl-peptidyl isomerase (PPIase), cyclophilin, in plant cells. Avr3b directly interacts with soybean cyclophilin GmCYP1, which activates the hydrolase activity of Avr3b in a PPIase activity-dependent manner. Avr3b contains a putative Glycine-Proline (GP) motif; which is known to confer cyclophilin-binding in other protein substrates. Substitution of the Proline (P132) in the putative GP motif impaired the interaction of Avr3b with GmCYP1; as a result, the mutant Avr3bP132A can no longer be activated by GmCYP1, and is also unable to promote Phytophthora infection. Avr3b elicits hypersensitive response (HR) in soybean cultivars producing the resistance protein Rps3b, but Avr3bP132A lost its ability to trigger HR. Furthermore, silencing of GmCYP1 rendered reduced cell death triggered by Avr3b, suggesting that GmCYP1-mediated Avr3b maturation is also required for Rps3b recognition. Finally, cyclophilins of Nicotiana benthamiana can also interact with Avr3b and activate its enzymatic activity. Overall, our results demonstrate that cyclophilin is a “helper” that activates the enzymatic activity of Avr3b after it is delivered into plant cells; as such, cyclophilin is required for the avirulence and virulence functions of Avr3b.
Tuning the Pore Geometry of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons for Enhanced Adsorption of Bisphenol-A

Mesoporous carbons were synthesized via both soft and hard template methods and compared to a commercial powder activated carbon (PAC) for the adsorption ability of bisphenol-A (BPA) from an aqueous solution. The commercial PAC had a BET-surface of 1027 m2/g with fine pores of 3 nm and less. The hard templated carbon (CMK-3) material had an even higher BET-surface of 1420 m2/g with an average pore size of 4 nm. The soft templated carbon (SMC) reached a BET-surface of 476 m2/g and a pore size of 7 nm. The maximum observed adsorption capacity (qmax) of CMK-3 was the highest with 474 mg/g, compared to 290 mg/g for PAC and 154 mg/g for SMC. The difference in adsorption capacities was attributed to the specific surface area and hydrophobicity of the adsorbent. The microporous PAC showed the slowest adsorption, while the ordered mesopores of SMC and CMK-3 enhanced the BPA diffusion into the adsorbent. This difference in adsorption kinetics is caused by the increase in pore diameter. However, CMK-3 with an open geometry consisting of interlinked nanorods allows for even faster intraparticle diffusion.
Compiler error messages: what can help novices?

Novices find it difficult to understand and use compiler error messages. It is useful to refine this observation and study the effect of different message styles on how well and quickly students identify errors in programs. For example, does an increased level of detail simplify the understanding of errors and their correction? We analyzed messages produced by a number of compilers for five programming languages, and grouped them into three style categories from their level of detail and presentation format, and correlated the level of experience and error type with performance and speed of response. The study involved two groups of students taking an introductory programming course at two different institutions; they used messages in these three styles to debug erroneous code. The results indicate that more detailed messages do not necessarily simplify the understanding of errors but that it matters more where information is placed and how it is structured.
Clinical usage of honey as a wound dressing: an update.

Since Molan last covered this topic in Journal of Wound Care, there have been advances in the selection of honey for use in wound care, based on its antibacterial properties, and in clinical protocols for its use. This paper examines woundhealing results achieved with honey in the past fi ve years, the extent of its use and practical issues relating to its clinical use.
Improved speech recognition using adaptive audio-visual fusion via a stochastic secondary classifier

The adaptive fusion of video and audio is one of the fundamental pursuits of audio visual speech recognition (AVSR). In this paper the use of a high dimensional secondary classifier on the word likelihood scores from both the audio and video modalities is investigated for the purposes of adaptive fusion. Results are presented that lie above or equal to the boundary of catastrophic fusion across a number of audio noise levels.
Negative Correlation between Expression Level and Evolutionary Rate of Long Intergenic Noncoding RNAs

Mammalian genomes contain numerous genes for long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). The functions of the lncRNAs remain largely unknown but their evolution appears to be constrained by purifying selection, albeit relatively weakly. To gain insights into the mode of evolution and the functional range of the lncRNA, they can be compared with much better characterized protein-coding genes. The evolutionary rate of the protein-coding genes shows a universal negative correlation with expression: highly expressed genes are on average more conserved during evolution than the genes with lower expression levels. This correlation was conceptualized in the misfolding-driven protein evolution hypothesis according to which misfolding is the principal cost incurred by protein expression. We sought to determine whether long intergenic ncRNAs (lincRNAs) follow the same evolutionary trend and indeed detected a moderate but statistically significant negative correlation between the evolutionary rate and expression level of human and mouse lincRNA genes. The magnitude of the correlation for the lincRNAs is similar to that for equal-sized sets of protein-coding genes with similar levels of sequence conservation. Additionally, the expression level of the lincRNAs is significantly and positively correlated with the predicted extent of lincRNA molecule folding (base-pairing), however, the contributions of evolutionary rates and folding to the expression level are independent. Thus, the anticorrelation between evolutionary rate and expression level appears to be a general feature of gene evolution that might be caused by similar deleterious effects of protein and RNA misfolding and/or other factors, for example, the number of interacting partners of the gene product.
CSMA with reservations by interruptions (CSMA/RI): a novel approach to reduce collisions in CSMA/CD

This paper proposes an enhancement for the carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) protocol, called CSMA with reservations by interruptions (CSMA/RI). This new protocol uses a novel approach to reserve capacity by interrupting an ongoing packet transmission. The performance of the protocol is studied by simulations under realistic (long range dependent) traffic conditions and compared to the CSMA/CD, token ring protocols, as well as with the work conserving G/D/1 queue. It is demonstrated that CSMA/RI always offers better performance than CSMA/CD, and under certain realistic assumptions regarding packet size, the performance of CSMA/RI can be very close to that of token-ring and G/D/1.
CREATING PROCEDURAL WINDOWBUILDING BLOCKS USING THE GENERATIVE FACT LABELING METHOD

Abstract. The generative surface reconstruction problem can be stated like this: Given a finite collection of 3D shapes, create a small set of functions that can be combined to generate the given shapes procedurally. We propose generative fact labeling (GFL) as an attempt to organize the iterative process of shape analysis and shape synthesis in a systematic way. We present our results for the reconstruction of complex windows of neo-classical buildings in Graz, followed by a critical discussion of the limitations of the approach.
CMOS DLL based 2 V, 3.2 ps jitter, 1 GHz clock synthesizer and temperature compensated tunable oscillator

This paper describes a low voltage, low jitter clock synthesizer and a temperature compensated tunable oscillator. Both of these circuits employ a self-correcting Delay Locked Loop (DLL). The DLL provides multiple clock phases that are combined to produce the desired output frequency for the synthesizer and provides temperature compensated biasing for the tunable oscillator. With a 2 V supply the measured RMS jitter for the 1 GHz synthesizer output was 3.2 ps. With a 3.3 V supply RMS jitter of 3.1 ps was measured for a 1.6 GHz output. The tunable oscillator has a 1.8% frequency variation over an ambient temperature range from 0 to 85/spl deg/C. The circuits were fabricated on a generic 0.5 /spl mu/m digital CMOS process.
Extended Medium Observation (EMO) — A load-aware metric for routing in wireless mesh backbone networks

The main advantage of using specific routing algorithms like AODV-ST or OLSR in wireless mesh backbone networks is their optimized handling of throughput from border nodes to each other. However, currently used metrics tend to ignore load situations and thus result in overloaded clusters within the mesh network. Our work presents a novel approach for load-based routing. We developed load observation methods and proved their practical applicability within fixed IEEE 802.11a structures. The Extended Medium Observation (EMO)-metric is based on a sophisticated concept of an advanced channel observation process, in which topological and load sensitive characteristics become elicited, quantified and composed. A direct comparison of EMO-AODV, a modified version of AODV using EMO with conventional metrics show that EMO-AODV achieves a kind of traffic balancing that tends to smooth load peaks.
Speaker characterization using principal component analysis and wavelet transform for speaker verification

In this paper, we investigate the use of the Wavelet Transform for text-dependent and text-independent Speaker Verification tasks. We have introduced a Principal Component Analysis based wavelet transform to perform frequencies segmentation with levels decomposition. A speaker dependent library tree has been built, corresponding to the best structure for a given speaker. The constructed tree is abstract and specific to every single speaker. Therefore the extracted parameters are more discriminative and appropriate for speaker verification applications. It has been compared to MFCC’s and other wavelet-based parameters. Experiments have been conducted using corpus, extracted from Yoho and Spidre Databases. This technique has shown robustness and 100% efficiency in both cases.
Effects of Carotenoids and Carotenoid- Tocopherol Interaction on Lipid

This thesis dealed with antioxidant/pro-oxidant action of carotenoids in in vitro lipid systems. The review of literature described the antioxidant/pro-oxidant chemistry of carotenoids and summarized the available data on the antioxidant/prooxidant action of carotenoids in different lipid systems. The experimental part evaluated the effects of carotenoids and carotenoid-tocopherol interaction on lipid oxidation based on free radical scavenger properties by electron spin resonance (ESR) study and the formation and decomposition of hydroperoxides. In ESR spin-trapping experiments, radicals were thermally generated from (2,2’-azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile) (AMVN) and trapped by N-tert-butyl-αphenylnitrone (PBN). In acetone, all carotenoids (0.17 mM) except β-carotene diminished the formation of the amount of spin adducts. β-Carotene was a prooxidant at higher concentration (0.90 mM). In toluene, all carotenoids except lutein, bixin and a combination of lutein and β-carotene diminsihed the amount of spin adducts. The differences in free radical scavenging between eight carotenoids including β-carotene, astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, zeaxanthin, lutein, cryptoxanthin, lycopene and bixin were small. The effects of carotenoids on the formation of hydroperoxides was examined in three different lipid models in vitro: triacylglycerol fraction of rapeseed oil (RSO TAGS), emulsified RSO TAGS and methyl linoleate. The decomposition of hydroperoxides was examined in emulsified RSO TAGS. Based on promotion of hydroperoxide formation, β-carotene (20 μg/g), lutein (5-40 μg/g) and lycopene (20 μg/g) were pro-oxidants in autoxidized RSO TAGS. Based on both formation and decomposition of hydroperoxides, β-carotene (0.45-20 μg/g) was a pro-oxidant in emulsified RSO TAGS. In methyl linoleate, both β-carotene (5-200 μg/g) and its oxidative breakdown product, retinal (7-360 μg/g), promoted the formation of hydroperoxides. The pro-oxidant effect was stronger with higher concentrations of the carotenoid. This thesis raised the question of the effect of carotenoid breakdown products on pro-oxidant role of carotenoids as demonstrated with retinal. The loss of yellow colour indicates the pro-oxidant action of carotenoids in lipids. On the other hand, even a minor amount of tocopherol protected carotenoids from destruction and thus from pro-oxidant effect. In RSO TAGS and emulsified RSO TAGS, a combination of carotenoid and tocopherol at certain proportion was a more efficient antioxidant than tocopherol alone. In conclusion, the present results demonstrated that carotenoids are in vitro prooxidants in lipid environment and may act as free radical scavenging antioxidants in chemical solutions.