Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Routing constraint for VoIP traffic in wireless mesh networks

The significant increase in Voice over IP (VoIP) service providers over the last few years has prompted an increase in VoIP services and currently poses additional challenges when deployed on wireless mesh network. Packet losses and delay due to interference in a wireless mesh network degrade significantly the VoIP call quality. In this work, we propose an approach inspired of Traffic Engineering Concept for wireless mesh network to provide differentiated services and therefore a better Quality of Service. We establish general criteria for these algorithms: routing using of calls statistics, minimizing network costs, and load balancing. Finally, we propose a solution that encompasses the different criteria presented in the paper.
Large signal performance of class-AB transconductance stage

This paper presents a simple mathematical model for the differential output-current/ differential input-voltage characteristic of the class-AB CMOS transconductor. The model, basically a Fourier series, yields closed-form expressions for the amplitudes of the harmonic and intermodulation components of the differential output-current resulting from a multisinusoidal differential input-voltage. The special case of a two-tone equal-amplitude differential input-voltage is considered in detail. The results show that the harmonic and intermodulation performance of the class-AB CMOS transconductor is strongly dependent on the values of the bias current of the transconductor and the amplitudes of the input tones with the third-order intermodulation component dominating over a wide range of the input voltage amplitudes and bias currents. The results also show that while the third-order harmonic and intermodulation products are monotonically increasing with the increase in the differential input-voltage amplitude, the second-order components are exhibiting maxima.
Comparing and evaluating lightweight solutions for replica dissemination and retrieval in dense MANETs

There is an emerging market interest in service provisioning over dense mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs), i.e., limited spatial regions, such as shopping malls, airports, and university campuses, where a high number of mobile wireless peers can autonomously cooperate without exploiting statically deployed network infrastructures. We claim that it is possible to exploit the high node population of dense MANETs to simplify the replication of common interest resources, in order to increase availability notwithstanding unpredictable node exits from dense regions. To this purpose, we have developed the REDMAN middleware that supports the lightweight and dense MANET-specific management, dissemination and retrieval of replicas of data/service components. In particular, the paper focuses on the presentation of different solutions for replica retrieval and for dissemination of replica placement information. We have compared and quantitatively evaluated the presented solutions by considering their ability to retrieve available replicas and their communication overhead. The original SID solution has demonstrated to outperform the others in dense MANETs and has been integrated in the REDMAN prototype.
Familial aggregation of psychiatric disorders in a community sample of adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether specific psychiatric disorders and suicide attempts ascertained in a community sample of adolescents show evidence of familial aggregation. METHOD Fifty-eight adolescent probands recruited from the community and their relatives were assessed as to the presence of specific DSM-III Axis I disorders and suicide attempt, using a combination of family study and family history methodology. RESULTS In first-degree relatives, there was evidence for specific familial aggregation of suicide attempt (odds ratio [OR] = 12.1 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3 to 111.0), substance abuse (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.1 to 6.7), and any Axis I disorder (OR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.3 to 4.6), even after demographic confounders and familial comorbidity were controlled. Similarly, among second-degree relatives, in analyses controlling for potentials confounders, the disorders-specific aggregation of suicide attempt (OR = 12.3, 95% CI = 1.2 to 130.0), substance abuse (OR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.6 to 4.8), and any Axis I disorder (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.0 to 2.2) persisted. CONCLUSIONS The familial aggregation of suicide attempts and psychiatric disorders, particularly of substance abuse and any Axis I disorder, occurs in community samples and is not primarily attributable to referral status.
Annotation Guidelines for Hindi-English Word Alignment

A duo such as Hindi-English (Hin-Eng) does differ in terms of grammar, and thus finding correspondences is often quite obscure in word alignment. Hindi being rich in morphology makes the alignment with its counterpart a bit contingent and invites obscurities in annotation process. We present annotation guidelines for Hin–Eng word alignment through contrastive analysis of the two languages. We applied existing guidelines for Dutch-English [1], coupled with Blinker project guidelines [2] and augmented them to cover frequently occurring cases in our corpus. We discuss verbal system which causes most linking obscurities by analyzing verb morphology which allows us to define consistent and systematic instructions for manual word alignment.
The Emergence of Intra-Organizational Communities of Operations: Evidence from the Software Industry

We contemplate the concept of intra-organizational communities of operation to account for the organizational design that has recently emerged. Intra-organizational communities of operation address operative tasks of information workers within the boundaries of a firm. By relying on community principles such as self-coordination and intrinsic motivation, this design is believed to be highly scalable and efficient. In order to understand the mechanisms of how these communities function, we develop a research framework aiming to explain performance by means of constructs adapted from conventional group research. We evaluate our model in an empirical study at a large software vendor in its bug tracking process. We find that community centrality, informal roles, and heterogeneity are associated with performance while sub-network centralization and size are not. Our findings will motivate managers to benefit from intra-organizational communities’ flexibility and scalability and assist them in the design process by unveiling the mechanisms that influence performance.
Ambient Temperature and Morbidity: A Review of Epidemiological Evidence

Objective: In this paper, we review the epidemiological evidence on the relationship between ambient temperature and morbidity. We assessed the methodological issues in previous studies and proposed future research directions. Data sources and data extraction: We searched the PubMed database for epidemiological studies on ambient temperature and morbidity of noncommunicable diseases published in refereed English journals before 30 June 2010. Forty relevant studies were identified. Of these, 24 examined the relationship between ambient temperature and morbidity, 15 investigated the short-term effects of heat wave on morbidity, and 1 assessed both temperature and heat wave effects. Data synthesis: Descriptive and time-series studies were the two main research designs used to investigate the temperature–morbidity relationship. Measurements of temperature exposure and health outcomes used in these studies differed widely. The majority of studies reported a significant relationship between ambient temperature and total or cause-specific morbidities. However, there were some inconsistencies in the direction and magnitude of nonlinear lag effects. The lag effect of hot temperature on morbidity was shorter (several days) compared with that of cold temperature (up to a few weeks). The temperature–morbidity relationship may be confounded or modified by sociodemographic factors and air pollution. Conclusions: There is a significant short-term effect of ambient temperature on total and cause-specific morbidities. However, further research is needed to determine an appropriate temperature measure, consider a diverse range of morbidities, and to use consistent methodology to make different studies more comparable.
Apoptosis Triggered by Myc-Induced Suppression of Bcl-XL or Bcl-2 Is Bypassed during Lymphomagenesis

ABSTRACT Enforced Bcl-2 expression inhibits Myc-induced apoptosis and cooperates with Myc in transformation. Here we report that the synergy between Bcl-2 and Myc in transforming hematopoietic cells in fact reflects a Myc-induced pathway that selectively suppresses the expression of the Bcl-XL or Bcl-2 antiapoptotic protein. Myc activation suppresses Bcl-XL RNA and protein levels in cultures of primary myeloid and lymphoid progenitors, and Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 expression is inhibited by Myc in precancerous B cells from Eμ-myc transgenic mice. The suppression of bcl-X RNA levels by Myc requires de novo protein synthesis, indicating that repression is indirect. Importantly, the suppression of Bcl-2 or Bcl-XL by Myc is corrupted during Myc-induced tumorigenesis, as Bcl-2 and/or Bcl-XLlevels are markedly elevated in over one-half of all lymphomas arising in Eμ-myc transgenic mice. Bcl-2 and/or Bcl-XL overexpression did not correlate with loss of ARF or p53 function in tumor cells, indicating that these two apoptotic pathways are inactivated independently. Therefore, the suppression of Bcl-XL or Bcl-2 expression represents a physiological Myc-induced apoptotic pathway that is frequently bypassed during lymphomagenesis.
Oxidative stress does not influence carotenoid mobilization and plumage pigmentation

Summary Oxidative stress has been suggested to create a link between ‘good genes’ and carotenoid coloration via an allocation conflict between external pigmentation and internal antioxidant functions. However, although carotenoid displays have been extensively investigated, there are no experimental tests of the antioxidant efficiency of carotenoids in vivo. We induced oxidative stress in a small passerine (the great tit, Parus major) under both carotenoid deprivation and supplementation, and investigated the effect on carotenoid mobilization (i.e. plasma) and allocation (i.e. deposition in feather incorporation and liver storage). We found no effects of the stressor on either mobilization or allocation of carotenoids. These results reject the previously suggested superior role of carotenoid's function as antioxidant in vivo with important implications for signal content and honesty.
Multi-feature indexing for image retrieval based on hypergraph

Based on the fact that tourism photos on the Internet have a lot of additional information, we proposed a novel tourism image retrieval method based on hypergraph (HMIR). The proposed method utilizes hypergraph to establish the relationship among different types of low-level visual features of images and their additional information (such as shooting locations, user-defined tags, etc.), and the fusion of different features is then performed at the offline indexing stage using random walk and similar image set (SI) replacement. Then Bag of Words method is used for image retrieval at online query stage. During online retrieval stage, we only need to extract local descriptors from queries, and can get semantic-aware retrieval results. Experiments show that compared with several other image retrieval methods based on single feature or multiple feature, the proposed method can improve the performance of image retrieval using different evaluation methods.
Interaction between M-Like Protein and Macrophage Thioredoxin Facilitates Antiphagocytosis for Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus

Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus, S.z) is one of the common pathogens that can cause septicemia, meningitis, and mammitis in domesticated species. M-like protein (SzP) is an important virulence factor of S. zooepidemicus and contributes to bacterial infection and antiphagocytosis. The interaction between SzP of S. zooepidemicus and porcine thioredoxin (TRX) was identified by the yeast two-hybrid and further confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. SzP interacted with both reduced and the oxidized forms of TRX without inhibiting TRX activity. Membrane anchored SzP was able to recruit TRX to the surface, which would facilitate the antiphagocytosis of the bacteria. Further experiments revealed that TRX regulated the alternative complement pathway by inhibiting C3 convertase activity and associating with factor H (FH). TRX alone inhibited C3 cleavage and C3a production, and the inhibitory effect was additive when FH was also present. TRX inhibited C3 deposition on the bacterial surface when it was recruited by SzP. These new findings indicated that S. zooepidemicus used SzP to recruit TRX and regulated the alternative complement pathways to evade the host immune phagocytosis.
A strategy for raster-based geocomputation under different parallel computing platforms

The demand for parallel geocomputation based on raster data is constantly increasing with the increase of the volume of raster data for applications and the complexity of geocomputation processing. The difficulty of parallel programming and the poor portability of parallel programs between different parallel computing platforms greatly limit the development and application of parallel raster-based geocomputation algorithms. A strategy that hides the parallel details from the developer of raster-based geocomputation algorithms provides a promising way towards solving this problem. However, existing parallel raster-based libraries cannot solve the problem of the poor portability of parallel programs. This paper presents such a strategy to overcome the poor portability, along with a set of parallel raster-based geocomputation operators (PaRGO) designed and implemented under this strategy. The developed operators are compatible with three popular types of parallel computing platforms: graphics processing unit supported by compute unified device architecture, Beowulf cluster supported by message passing interface (MPI), and symmetrical multiprocessing cluster supported by MPI and open multiprocessing, which make the details of the parallel programming and the parallel hardware architecture transparent to users. By using PaRGO in a style similar to sequential program coding, geocomputation developers can quickly develop parallel raster-based geocomputation algorithms compatible with three popular parallel computing platforms. Practical applications in implementing two algorithms for digital terrain analysis show the effectiveness of PaRGO.
A REGION-BASED MODEL AND BINARY LEVEL SET FUNCTION APPLIED TOWELD DEFECTS DETECTION IN RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGES

In this paper, we propose a model for active contours to detect boundaries’ objects in given image. The curve evolution is based on Chan-Vese model implemented via binary variational level set formulation. The particularity of this model is the capacity to detect boundaries’ objects without need to use gradient of the image, this property gives its several advantages: it allows detecting both contours with or without gradient, it has ability to detect automatically interior contours, and it is robust in the presence of noise. For increasing the performance of model, we introduce the level sets function to describe the active contour, the more important advantage to use level set is the ability to change topology. Experiments on synthetic and real (weld radiographic) images show both efficiency and accuracy of implemented model.
Salivary steroid changes and physical performance in highly trained cyclists.

The purpose of this work was to study the seasonal salivary cortisol and testosterone changes, and their relationships with lean body mass variations, in highly trained cyclists. Physical fitness, body composition (6 skinfolds) and basal salivary testosterone were evaluated in 7 male cyclists, on two separate occasions. The first assessment was made at the onset of the competitive season and the second 6 months later. Two kinds of exercise tests were carried out. The first test was an incremental exercise test to determine the maximum O2 consumption (VO2max) and the maximum workload (Wmax). We also measured the VO2 and workload (W) attained at the first and second ventilatory thresholds (VO2VT1, WVT1, VO2VT2, WVT2). During the tests the VO2 was recorded every 30 seconds (Oxycon-5, Mijhardt BV, Odijk). As a second test two days later, we assessed the anaerobic capacity expressed as the maximal accumulated O2 deficit (MAOD). Briefly, each subject underwent five submaximal exercises each lasting 6 min at an intensity of 200, 220, 240, 260 and 280 W. We estimated individually the O2 demand by extrapolating the linear relationship between the power and the O2 demand previously established. Afterwards the subjects performed a supramaximal bout at an intensity producing exhaustion between 2 and 4 minutes. The accumulated O2 demand was calculated by multiplying the O2 demand by the supramaximal test duration. The MAOD was computed as the difference between the accumulated O2 demand and the O2 consumed during the supramaximal rides. We found a significant increase in some physical fitness parameters related to aerobic capacity. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Studies on cytogenesis in adult rat adrenal cortex: circadian and zonal variations and their modulation by adrenocorticotropic hormone.

Circadian rhythms and zonal variations in the cell proliferation of adult rat adrenal cortex were studied by following the cells in the DNA-synthesizing stage (S-phase) as assessed by 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation into the cell-nuclei and/or by visualizing proliferating cell nuclear antigen. The S-phase cells were observed throughout the day in two regions of the adrenal cortex: (i) a region from the inner half of the zona glomerulosa to near the outer margin of the zona fasciculata, and (ii) the outer one-fourth portion of the zona fasciculata. Very little change in number was observed in the former region between day and night, while a burst of cell proliferation occurred in early morning at 3-4 a.m. in the latter region. A prominent rise in the plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentration preceded the burst of cell proliferation by about 4 h. Upon raising the plasma ACTH concentration by administration of ACTH or metyrapone, prominent cell proliferation also occurred in the same portion of the zona fasciculata 4-6 h after the provoked ACTH surge. Thus at least two sites in rat adrenal cortex are responsible for cytogenesis in this endocrine organ, and respond differentially to day/night cycles and circulating ACTH levels.
Bullying and School Climate from the Aspects of the Students and Teachers

Problem Statement: School culture and school climate describe the environment that affects the behavior of teachers and students. School climate reflects the physical and psychological aspects of the school that are more susceptible to change and that provide the preconditions necessary for teaching and learning to take place. In addition, school climate is a significant element in discussions about improving academic performance. The most important component of school climate is safety. However, incidents of bullying are frequent occurrences for many children at school and in the community. Children who are bullied fear coming to school, and they believe school to be an unsafe and distressing place. Purpose of Study: The primary purpose of the present study is to investigate the feelings of both elementary students and their teachers about the school climate in terms of their perceptions of safety in the school. It is also of importance to describe the types and the prevalence of bullying, and possible incidents where bullying occurs, where they feel safe, and whom they tell about bullying. Methods: 688 students from the 4th through 8th grade from one elementary school and 58 randomly selected teachers were presented a questionnaire called the Colorado School Climate Survey. The data was analyzed in terms of frequencies and variance. Findings and Results: 41.3% reported that over the last month they were bullied at least once in a week or more. The results showed an average school climate scored 42.5 points out of a 56 point maximum. 25.4% of the students were found to be neither bullies nor victims. 41.3% of them were victims, 3.3% were bullies, and 29.9 % were bully-victims. Conclusion and Recommendations: Bullying is a serious problem in many schools and there seems to be no one single solution for every student. It is known, however, that the social context and supervision of the school play a major role in the frequency and severity of bullying problems.
FoxO 3 coordinates metabolic pathways to maintain redox balance in neural stem cells

-Ref#1 finds interesting data in the study, is however concerned that it is entirely based on foldchanges. With the current description of methods, s/he finds it difficult to judge the overall significance of the data. (As an aside, cropping of blots would need to be verified by provision of original source data). Lastly, the NAC-feeding experiments indicate functional relevance, though they seem not to offer direct proof for the actual molecular-mechanistic underpinnings with regard to glucose/glutamine metabolism.
Image-based stereo background modeling for CAVE system

In this paper, we make 3D stereo backgrounds for a CAVE system from real world for users to feel more realistic. We take panorama photographs with the 3D sweep panorama™ functions and generate equirectangular panorama format image by stitching them manually. Finally 3D stereo background of CAVE is constructed using this panorama format image. We propose a generation method of 3D equirectangular panorama format image and background modeling of CAVE using these images.
Nurse managers' preferred and perceived leadership styles: a study at an Italian hospital.

AIM The aim of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to compare the different leadership styles based on perceptions of nurse managers and their staff. BACKGROUND Nurse managers' styles are fundamental to improving subordinates' performance and achieving goals at health-care institutions. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire developed by Ekvall & Arvonen, considering three leadership domains (Change, Production and Employee relations), was administered to all nurse managers and to their subordinates at a city hospital in north-east Italy. RESULTS The comparison between the leadership styles actually adopted and those preferred by the nurse managers showed that the preferred style always scored higher than the style adopted, the difference reaching statistical significance for Change and Production. The leadership styles preferred by subordinates always scored higher than the styles their nurse managers actually adopted; in the subordinates' opinion, the differences being statistically significant in all three leadership domains. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT The study showed that nurse managers' expectations in relation to their leadership differ from those of their subordinates. These findings should be borne in mind when selecting and training nurse managers and other personnel, and they should influence the hospital's strategic management of nurses.