Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The emergence of a networking primitive in wireless sensor networks

The wireless sensor network community approached networking abstractions as an open question, allowing answers to emerge with time and experience. The Trickle algorithm has become a basic mechanism used in numerous protocols and systems. Trickle brings nodes to eventual consistency quickly and efficiently while remaining remarkably robust to variations in network density, topology, and dynamics. Instead of flooding a network with packets, Trickle uses a "polite gossip" policy to control send rates so each node hears just enough packets to stay consistent. This simple mechanism enables Trickle to scale to 1000-fold changes in network density, reach consistency in seconds, and require only a few bytes of state yet impose a maintenance cost of a few sends an hour. Originally designed for disseminating new code, experience has shown Trickle to have much broader applicability, including route maintenance and neighbor discovery. This paper provides an overview of the research challenges wireless sensor networks face, describes the Trickle algorithm, and outlines several ways it is used today.
Locomotion via Impact Switching between Decoupling Vector Fields

This paper investigates motion planning for underactuated systems with impacts, as in legged robots. Some such systems admit decoupling vector fields between impacts, and the system can be thought of as a kinematic system as it moves along the integral curves of these decoupling vector fields. This reduces motion planning to choosing a sequence of decoupling vector fields and impact transition times between these vector fields. Each transition must satisfy the condition that the image of the pre-impact state (through the impact mapping) leads to a post-impact state aligned with the new decoupling vector field. We derive this condition, extending previous work where transitions were only allowed at zero velocity. Our approach combines the benefits of computationally efficient kinematic planning with potentially faster execution times due to the fact that the system does not have to be slowed to zero velocity at the switches. Switches are restricted to a lower-dimensional configuration surface, however. We have applied this approach to motion planning for a planar two-link robot which locomotes by using a single revolute actuator at the joint between the links and by alternately clamping one of two possible pivot points to the ground
Mixed-Integer Rounding Enhanced Benders Decomposition for Multiclass Service-System Staffing and Scheduling with Arrival Rate Uncertainty

We study server scheduling in multiclass service systems under uncertainty in the customer arrival volumes. Common practice in such systems is to first identify staffing levels and then determine schedules for the servers that cover these levels. We propose a new stochastic integer programming (SIP) model that integrates these two decisions, which can yield lower scheduling costs by exploiting the presence of alternative server configurations that yield similar quality of service. We find that a branch-and-cut algorithm based on Benders decomposition may fail due to the weakness of the relaxation bound. We propose a novel application of mixed-integer rounding to improve the Benders cuts used in this algorithm, a technique that is applicable to any SIP with integer first-stage decision variables. Numerical examples illustrate the computational efficiency of the proposed approach and the potential benefit of solving the integrated model compared to considering the staffing and scheduling problems separately.
Convergent LMI relaxations for non-convex optimization over polynomials in control

It is well known that most analysis and design problems in robust and nonlinear control can be formulated as global optimization problems with polynomial objective functions and constraints [1]. Typical examples include robust stability analysis for characteristic polynomials with parametric uncertainty, simultaneous stabilization of linear systems, pole assignment by static output feedback, and stability analysis for polynomial systems by Lyapunov’s second approach. In some specific cases, there exist computationally efficient techniques for solving these problems. For example, vertex or extremal results such as Kharitonov’s Theorem or the Edge Theorem can be used to perform robust stability analysis without optimization [2, 3, 4]. Some of these results have been extended to robust design of fixed-order or fixed-structure controllers, for example, PID design [5]. In the same vein, static state-feedback design, or design of a controller of the same order as the plant, can be formulated as a convex linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization problem [6], for which polynomial-time interior point methods are available.
Magnetic resonance imaging of atherosclerotic plaques using superparamagnetic iron oxide particles

Experimental data show accumulation of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particles in atherosclerotic plaques. SPIO uptake occurred in plaques, suggesting an increased endothelial permeability and macrophage infiltrates as signs of inflammatory plaque activity. We incidentally observed SPIO uptake in aortic and arterial wall segments in patients who had originally received the magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent for staging lymph node metastases. Twenty patients (19 male, 1 female; mean age, 64; range, 41–78 years) with bladder or prostate cancer underwent MR imaging (MRI) using a T2*‐weighted high‐resolution gradient‐echo sequence prior to and 24–36 hours after intravenous injection of 2.6 mg of Fe/kg of SPIO (Sinerem®). The aorta, both common external and internal iliac, as well as both superficial femoral arteries, were retrospectively analyzed for atherosclerotic wall changes. One patient was excluded. A positive finding was defined as an area of pronounced signal loss on postcontrast images clearly confined to the arterial wall, which was absent in the precontrast examination or increased in size. Such a finding was observed in one to three arteries in 7 of the 19 patients. The pronounced signal loss in the wall of the aorta and pelvic arteries seen in part of an elderly patient population after intravenous SPIO administration strongly suggests that this contrast agent accumulates in human atherosclerotic plaques. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;14:355–361. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Middleware Guidelines for Future Sensor Networks

In the near future, we envision sensor networks to transport high bandwidth, low latency streaming data from a variety of sources, such as cameras and microphones. Sensor networks will be called upon to perform sophisticated in-network processing such as image fusion and object tracking. It is not too difficult to imagine that computational capabilities of network nodes will scale up relative to the fairly limited resources of current motes. However, it is likely that energy will continue to remain a constrained resource in such futuristic sensor networks. Recently, there have been proposals for middleware that provide capabilities for higher-level in-network processing while minimizing energy drain on the network. In this work, we analyze the interplay between resource requirements for computeand communication-intensive in-network processing and resultant implications on figures of merit of interest to an application including latency, throughput, and lifetime. We use a surveillance application workload along with middleware capabilities for data fusion, role migration (simple relaying versus in-network processing), and prefetching. Through a simulation-based study, we shed light on the impact of device characteristics such as CPU speed and radio features on application figures of merit. We show, in the presence of prefetching, that increasing radio bandwidth may not improve latency nor throughput for compute-intensive workloads and may actually decrease productivity of the network. We show that cost function directed migration can significantly extend application lifetime in sensor networks with topologies two orders of magnitude larger than previous studies. We also show that a simple minded cost function may not be sufficient to guide migration decisions in the middleware.
Increased Levels of Soluble Tumour Necrosis Factor Receptor‐I (P55) and Decreased IgG1 Reactivities in HIV‐1 Patients with Cytomegalovirus Disease

The purpose of the study was to investigate potential associations between tumour necrosis factor (TNF), soluble TNF receptors (sTNF‐Rs), immunoglobulin (Ig)G subclasses and development of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease amongst human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐1 patients. We enrolled HIV‐1 patients with CD4 counts less than 100/μl in a prospective study and followed them over 1 year for development of CMV disease. Concentrations of TNF, sTNF‐RI, sTNF‐RII and IgG subclass reactivities were measured by ELISA; levels of CMV pp65 antigenaemia were determined as numbers of pp65 expressing cells/100 000 cells and were measured by staining of leucocytes; and HIV‐1 RNA loads were measured by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Eighteen patients studied with CMV disease had higher levels of sTNF‐RI than 18 similar patients without CMV disease. Concentrations of sTNF‐RI correlated with levels of CMV antigenaemia in blood samples collected before the development of CMV disease. Patients with CMV disease had lower levels of IgG1 reactivities to CMV than patients without CMV disease. We conclude that increased levels of sTNF‐RI and decreased IgG1 reactivities are associated with an increased risk of development of CMV disease among HIV‐1 patients.
Research and Implementation of Intelligent Chinese Resume Parsing

This paper presents a systematic solution of the information retrieval in online Chinese resume. Chinese resume's contents have several expression and the structure of Chinese resume is complex. So this paper applies rule-based and statistical algorithm to extract information. We get a high accuracy in the experiment on 1500 resumes, which are offered by www.chinahr. com.
Cultural Resistance to Imported Pedagogy: The Case of Task-Based Language Teaching in English Class in China

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is one way of translating some principles of communicative language teaching (CLT) into practice. It offers practical ways of establishing a balance in classroom instruction between developing ‘knowing how’ and ‘knowing what’, the latter of which is caused by the traditional English teaching ‘presentation, practice and production (PPP) model popular in English classrooms in the People’s Republic of China. However, TBLT has failed to make the biggest impact on English language teaching (ELT) as expected in Chinese context as an imported pedagogy. This paper investigates one of the most important potential constraints on the adaptation of TBLT in the English classroom, namely, the Chinese cultural of learning. It argues that TBLT and the Chinese cultural of learning are in conflict in several important aspects mainly including the following relationship: Input-oriented or output-oriented approach to language learning, teacher-centeredness or student-centeredness, language knowledge or language ability and so on. In view of such fundamental differences caused by the Chinese cultural of learning which puts great emphasis on the input of learning for students, this paper contends that it is sometimes counterproductive to adopt the pedagogy which originated and developed in a different sociocultural context. It concludes by arguing for the necessity of adopting a cautious approach to using the imported pedagogy in Chinese context and developing a sensible consciousness facing pedagogical choices in English teaching classrooms.
Comment on “Sedative and Analgesic Effects of Entonox Gas Compared with Midazolam and Fentanyl in Synchronized Cardioversion”

In the recent investigation of Masoumi et al. [1], the intravenous association of midazolam and fentanyl was compared to inhaled nitrous oxide in the synchronized cardioversion. This study is very important since several drug schemes have been used for anesthesia during electrical cardioversion, with different mechanism of action, duration, and side effects, but, until now, no technique demonstrated a clear superiority over one another [2]. Theprimary endpoint ofMasoumi et al. [1] was the degree of pain experienced by the patient, and secondary endpoints were sedation duration, time to full recovery consciousness, andneed of additional doses to induce andmaintain sedation. After randomization and analysis of 40 patients, this investigation demonstrated that nitrous oxide promoted a better analgesic effect and that it was also associated with shorter sedation duration and time to full recovery consciousness. In spite of these important observations, this study presented some limitations. Initially, patients were included if they presented with “tachydysrhythmia associated with symptoms requiring cardioversion (unstable tachydysrhythmia with palpable pulse regarding patient conditions). ” This criterion may include both ventricular and supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. Unfortunately, the authors did not present neither the diagnosis of the tachyarrhythmias nor the underlying heart disease of the patients treated. These data are extremely important to establish the safety of the drug schemes and its future choice according to the clinical profile of the patient. In a previous series [3] with inclusion criteria similar to the commented on study, the proportion of patients with ventricular tachycardia was of 13%. The majority of the studies with anesthesia for electrical cardioversion have included cases with atrial fibrillation in an elective procedure [2, 4], a more stable and predictable scenario. Furthermore, the successful conversion rates with synchronized direct current shock should be presented too. It was clear that this was not an endpoint; however, this information is too much important to be missed. In some rare cases, anesthesiamay restore normal sinus rhythmbefore shock discharge [5–7], and also, it is not definitely established whether the technique of anesthesia influences the defibrillation threshold [8–10] and consequently the efficacy of the cardioversion procedure or, at least, the number of shocks and energy required. In conclusion, I do believe that studies investigating anesthesia drugs for electrical cardioversion must present the diagnosis of the tachyarrhythmia treated, the underlying structural heart disease of the patients, and the success rates of the procedure.
Antimicrobial Peptides: An Emerging Category of Therapeutic Agents

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also known as host defense peptides, are short and generally positively charged peptides found in a wide variety of life forms from microorganisms to humans. Most AMPs have the ability to kill microbial pathogens directly, whereas others act indirectly by modulating the host defense systems. Against a background of rapidly increasing resistance development to conventional antibiotics all over the world, efforts to bring AMPs into clinical use are accelerating. Several AMPs are currently being evaluated in clinical trials as novel anti-infectives, but also as new pharmacological agents to modulate the immune response, promote wound healing, and prevent post-surgical adhesions. In this review, we provide an overview of the biological role, classification, and mode of action of AMPs, discuss the opportunities and challenges to develop these peptides for clinical applications, and review the innovative formulation strategies for application of AMPs.
Student-Faculty Contacts: Tradition versus Technology

Traditional student/professor interaction involves office visits or telephone calls. Both modes require the participants to occupy similar space and time. Two relatively new modes of communication are now available to academia which are free of these geographic constraints: voice and electronic mail. A small study was made in the College of Business and Industry at Mississippi State University to see what benefits could be achieved if the traditional modes of communication were augmented by the use of voice and electronic mail messages.
Thioredoxin m4 Controls Photosynthetic Alternative Electron Pathways in Arabidopsis1[C][W]

In addition to the linear electron flow, a cyclic electron flow (CEF) around photosystem I occurs in chloroplasts. In CEF, electrons flow back from the donor site of photosystem I to the plastoquinone pool via two main routes: one that involves the Proton Gradient Regulation5 (PGR5)/PGRL1 complex (PGR) and one that is dependent of the NADH dehydrogenase-like complex. While the importance of CEF in photosynthesis and photoprotection has been clearly established, little is known about its regulation. We worked on the assumption of a redox regulation and surveyed the putative role of chloroplastic thioredoxins (TRX). Using Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants lacking different TRX isoforms, we demonstrated in vivo that TRXm4 specifically plays a role in the down-regulation of the NADH dehydrogenase-like complex-dependent plastoquinone reduction pathway. This result was confirmed in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants overexpressing the TRXm4 orthologous gene. In vitro assays performed with isolated chloroplasts and purified TRXm4 indicated that TRXm4 negatively controls the PGR pathway as well. The physiological significance of this regulation was investigated under steady-state photosynthesis and in the pgr5 mutant background. Lack of TRXm4 reversed the growth phenotype of the pgr5 mutant, but it did not compensate for the impaired photosynthesis and photoinhibition sensitivity. This suggests that the physiological role of TRXm4 occurs in vivo via a mechanism distinct from direct up-regulation of CEF.
Constitutive Activation of STAT5 by a Point Mutation in the SH2 Domain*

We previously identified a constitutively active form of STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) 5A by polymerase chain reaction-driven random mutagenesis followed by retrovirus-mediated expression screening, which had two point mutations in the DNA-binding and transcriptional activation domains, and was designated STAT5A1*6. STAT5A1*6 showed markedly elevated DNA binding and transactivation activities with stable tyrosine phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation, and conferred autonomous cell growth on interleukin 3-dependent Ba/F3 cells. We now report another constitutively active mutant, STAT5A-N642H which has a single point mutation (N642H) in its SH2 domain, identified using the same strategy as that used to identify STAT5A1*6. STAT5A-N642H showed identical properties to those of STAT5A1*6 both biochemically and biologically. Interestingly the mutation in STAT5A-N642H resulted in restoration of the conserved critical histidine which is involved in the binding of phosphotyrosine in the majority of SH2-containing proteins. Introduction of an additional mutation (Y694F) to STAT5A-N642H, which disrupted critical tyrosine 694 required for dimerization of STAT5, abolished all the activities manifested by the mutant STAT5A-N642H, which indicates that dimerization is required for the activity of STAT5A-N642H as was the case for the wild-type STAT5A. The present findings also show that different mutations rendered STAT5A constitutively active, through a common mechanism, which is similar to that of physiological activation.
Neurocysticercosis in children: clinical characteristics and outcome

Abstract A study was undertaken on 176 children with neurocysticercosis to determine the clinical behaviour and long-term outcome of cases. The children were followed up prospectively in the paediatric neurology clinic for 6 years. Diagnosis was based primarily on CT scans. All the CT lesions were parenchymal and mostly single (87%) with ring enhancement and peri-lesional oedema. Partial seizure was the predominant presenting seizure type. About 65% of cases had recurrences at varying intervals during treatment. Albendazole therapy given to some cases did not appear to have any beneficial effect on seizure control. Repeat CTs done at varying intervals after the first seizures showed disappearance of the lesions in about 50% of cases. The majority of lesions disappeared without the use of albendazole. Recurrence of seizures after withdrawal of anti-epileptic medication was observed in 19% of the cases. Parenchymal neurocysticercosis in children commonly presents with partial seizures and ring lesions on CT. The disease can be managed well by anti-epileptic medication alone and the prognosis is good.
Retinal ganglion cells in the albino rat: Revised morphological classification

Rat retinal ganglion cells were traditionally classified on the basis of soma size and the morphology of their dendritic fields. However, in the past, techniques used to label ganglion cells (horseradish peroxidase, Golgi, or the neurofibrillar stain) did not always stain the axon and/or the entire dendritic field. In the present study, we have labelled retinal ganglion cells in the adult albino rat with the carbocyanine dye 1,1′‐dioctadecyl‐3,3,3′,3′‐tetramethylindo‐carbocyanine perchlorate (DiI) or have intracellularly injected them with Neurobiotin. Such procedures enabled us to completely fill these neurons, and our findings prompted us to modify the existing retinal ganglion cell classification in the rat. First, cells were categorised into three groups on the basis of soma and dendritic field size: Group RGA cells have large somata and dendritic field diameters, Group RGB cells have small somata and dendritic field diameters, whereas Group RGC cells have small to medium‐sized somata and medium‐to‐large dendritic field diameters. On the basis of dendritic field morphology and presence across the retina, each Group was then subdivided into subgroups. The significance of our results in terms of retinal ganglion cell function is discussed. J. Comp. Neurol. 385:309–323, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Searching Images Segmented from Search Engine database using sophisticated QIMERA method of Algorithm

---As long as innovative channels are going to be accessible, the digital archives need to integrate new technologies and services for digital image processing and delivery. The possibility to search images by means of features and other images and not only with keywords seems to be an important challenge. The Alinari’s image-archive research department is testing some specific search agents able to “retrieve images by images”: a customer could be interested to find all the images that are someway similar to one specific image he chooses (i.e. a family photo). European SCHEMA project (IST-2001-32795) is currently working on object and region segmentation algorithms and with the Qimera platform has obtained very good results. This paper refers to Alinari’s application cases and tests.
WHEN SOURCES BECOME SINKS: MIGRATIONAL MELTDOWN IN HETEROGENEOUS HABITATS

Abstract We consider the evolution of ecological specialization in a landscape with two discrete habitat types connected by migration, for example, a plant-insect system with two plant hosts. Using a quantitative genetic approach, we study the joint evolution of a quantitative character determining performance in each habitat together with the changes in the population density. We find that specialization on a single habitat evolves with intermediate migration rates, whereas a generalist species evolves with both very low and very large rates of movement between habitats. There is a threshold at which a small increase in the connectivity of the two habitats will result in dramatic decrease in the total population size and the nearly complete loss of use of one of the two habitats through a process of “migrational meltdown. ” In some situations, equilibria corresponding to a specialist and a generalist species are simultaneously stable. Analysis of our model also shows cases of hysteresis in which small transient changes in the landscape structure or accidental demographic disturbances have irreversible effects on the evolution of specialization. Corresponding Editor: M. Whitlock