Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymptotic traffic flow in a hyperbolic network

In this work we study the asymptotic traffic flow in Gromov hyperbolic graphs when the traffic decays exponentially with the distance. We prove that under general conditions, there exists a phase transition between local and global traffic. More specifically, assume that the traffic rate between two nodes u and v is given by R(u, v) = β<sup>-d(u, v)</sup>, where d(u, v) is the distance between the nodes. Then there exists a constant β<sub>c</sub>, that depends on the geometry of the network, such that if 1 <; β <; β<sub>c</sub> the traffic is global and there is a small set of highly congested nodes called the core. However, if β >; β<sub>c</sub> then the traffic is essentially local and the core is empty which implies very small congestion.
Experimentally Induced Leptomeningeal Glioneuronal Heterotopia and Underlying Cortical Dysplasia of the Lateral Limbic Area in Rats Treated Transplacentally with Methylmercury

Leptomeningeal glioneuronal heterotopia (LGH) is a developmental anomaly sometimes observed at the surface of human brains with severe malformations. We experimentally induced LGH in brains of rat pups by transplacental exposure to methylmercury. Histopathological profiles of the induced LGH, including the spatio-temporal predominance of the manifestation, suggest some aspects of the histogenesis of this malformation. Pregnant rats on embryonic day 8 (E8), E11, E13, E16, E18 or E21 were treated orally with a single administration of 20 mg/kg methylmercury chloride, and the brains of their delivered offspring were examined on postnatal day 7 (P7) and P28. The incidence of LGH varied significantly according to the treatment day: it was almost exclusively restricted to individuals treated on E13. Furthermore, all the induced LGH was confined to the subarachnoid space dorsal to the rhinal fissure, unilaterally or bilaterally. A part of the nest was connected to the underlying cortical surface of the lateral limbic area, where glia limitans and basal lamina were disrupted. Narrow stripes of disarrangement of cortical neurons underlying the bridges were observed. The P7 LGHs consisted mainly of neurons, some of which were GABA-immunolabeled, and a small number of astrocytes as well as endogenous blood vessels and fibroblasts. LGHs in P28 brains consisted mainly of GFAP-positive astrocyte processes. An additional experiment with double administrations of 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and methylmercury on E13 disclosed an abnormally widespread distribution of labeled neurons throughout all cortical layers underlying the LGH in P28 brains. Thus, cerebral LGH would be induced if a developing brain were insulted at the early stage of neurogenesis, accompanied by cortical dysplasia.
Small-size slot antenna for seven-band LTE/WWAN mobile phone operation

A promising printed slot antenna for seven-band operation applied in the mobile phone has been proposed, covering GSM850/900/ DCS1800/PCS1900/UMTS2100/LTE2300/2500. The antenna comprises an inverted-L-shaped slot and three open-ended monopole slots, which are integrated into a compact configuration to occupy a small area of 15×40 mm2 in the back side of the system circuit board. A 50-Ω microstrip feed line is conducted to excite the antenna, which is printed on the top side of the PCB. The proposed antenna is tested, and good radiation performances are obtained.
Target Tracking Using Kalman Filter

One of the fundamental problems in vision is that of tracking target through sequences of images. Within this paper I discuss the design of Kalman filter algorithm to track the target and shows the resulting improvement in tracking. This is of utmost importance for high-performance real-time applications. More specifically, I describe the technique of how to track Moving Pen. Experimental results demonstrate that, the proposed algorithm is more robust in tracking performance. The proposed method is suitable for indoors as well as outdoors scenes with static background and overcomes the problem of stationary targets fading into the background  .
Pneumococcal serotype distribution in adults with invasive disease and in carrier children in Italy: Should we expect herd protection of adults through infants' vaccination?

ABSTRACT The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) produced a significant herd protection in unvaccinated adult population mostly because of pneumococcus carriage decrease in vaccinated children. It is not known if the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine can give similar effect on adults. Aims of the work were to evaluate whether the 6 additional serotypes are present in nasopharynx of children and serotype distribution in invasive pneumococcal infections (IPD) in adults. Realtime-PCR was used to evaluate pneumococcal serotypes in adults with confirmed IPD and in nasopharyngeal swabs (NP) from 629 children not vaccinated or vaccinated with PCV7 and resident in the same geographical areas. Two hundred twenty-one patients (116 males, median 67.9 years) with IPD were studied (pneumonia n = 103, meningitis n = 61 sepsis n = 50, other n = 7). Two hundred twelve were serotyped. The most frequent serotypes were 3, (31/212; 14.6%), 19A, (19/212; 9.0%), 12 (17/212; 8.0%), 7F, (14/212; 6.6%). In NP of children, the frequency of those serotypes causing over 50% of IPD in adults was very low, ranging from 0.48% for serotype 7F to 7.9% for serotype 19A. On the other side serotype 5, very frequent in NP (18.7%) caused <1% IPD. In conclusion serotypes causing IPD in adults are very rarely found in children NP. We suggest that herd protection obtainable with the additional 6 serotypes included in PCV13 may be more limited than that demonstrated with PCV7 in the past. In order to reduce the burden of disease in adults, adults should be offered a specific vaccination program with highly immunogenic PCV.
Robust covariance estimation in sensor data fusion

This paper addresses the robust estimation of a covariance matrix to express the uncertainty when fusing information from multiple sensors. This is a problem of interest in multiple robotics domains and applications, namely in Search and Rescue. The paper compares the Covariance Intersection (CI) and a class of Orthogonal Gnanadesikan-Kettenring (OGK) estimators. The performance of the two estimators is analyzed using the 2-norm of the covariance matrix. Simulation tests are presented showing that OGK tends to outperform CI when the correlation between sensors is significant and in the presence of outliers. The formal bounds found show that each of the two estimators outperforms the other depending on the region of the covariance matrix spectrum they are operating in. The conclusions point to the use covariance estimation systems with a hybrid of the two estimators.
Migration in Sub-State Territories with Historical-Linguistic Minorities: Main Challenges and New Perspectives

Abstract Migration is an important reality for many sub-national autonomous territories where traditional-historical groups (so-called ‘old minorities’) live such as Flanders, Catalonia, South Tyrol, Scotland, Basque Country, and Quebec. Some of these territories have attracted migrants for decades, while others have only recently experienced significant migration inflow. The presence of old minorities brings complexities to the management of migration issues. Indeed, it is acknowledged that the relationship between ‘old’ communities and the ‘new’ minority groups originating from migration (so-called ‘new minorities’) can be rather complicated. On the one hand, interests and needs of historical groups can be in contrast with those of the migrant population. On the other hand, the presence of new minorities can interfere with the relationship between the old minorities and the majority groups at the state level and also with the relationship between old minorities and the central state as well as with the policies enacted to protect the diversity of traditional groups and the way old minorities understand and define themselves. The present lecture analyses whether it is possible to reconcile the claims of historical minorities and of new groups originating from migration and whether policies that accommodate traditional minorities and migrants are allies in the pursuit of a pluralist and tolerant society.
The Impact of Korean Immigration on the US Economy

Korean migration to the United States has occurred in three distinct phases. The first phase involved a relatively small number of migrants at the beginning of the 20th century; the second consisted mainly of students motivated by educational opportunity in the first decade or so following the Korean War; and the third started in 1965 with the liberalization of the US national quota system. This chapter examines the economic impact of Korean immigration on the US economy, focusing on the third wave of immigration that began in 1965. This group of Korean immigrants appears to be distinct both from most other national immigrant groups and previous Korean immigrants. They have high levels of educational attainment, with rates of college education nearly twice the US national average. They form businesses at a rate 70 percent higher than the US public at large, and have savings rates of roughly twice the national average. Their children have achieved even higher rates of educational attainment and earn per capita incomes well above the national average. There is a correlation between the presence of Korean immigrants and state economic performance, and if this were interpreted as a causal relation, it would suggest that a doubling of the Korean immigrant population would increase national per capita income growth by 0.1-0.2 percentage points.
A Modular Speed-Drooped System for High Reliability Integrated Modular Motor Drives

Future transportation challenges include a considerable reduction in pollutant emissions at a time when significant increase in demand is predicted. One of the enabling solutions is the electrification of transport systems as this should lead to improved operability, fuel savings, emission reduction, and maintenance. While state-of-the-art technology has demonstrable benefits there needs to be considerable advancement to meet future transportation affordability and emission targets. Primarily, electrical drives need an improved power density, an increased reliability, and a reduced specific cost. For this reason, integrated modular motor drives (IMMDs) present an attractive solution. Modularity leads to redundancy and easier integration. This paper presents a novel speed-drooped control system applied to motors fed by modular paralleled converters. This control technique allows precise speed regulation and power sharing among different segments showing improved fault tolerance and reliability. The design procedure and the power sharing dynamic have been presented and analyzed by means of MATLAB/Simulink and validated in a 3-kW experimental rig, showing good agreement with the expected performances.
Scaling Out Sound and Complete Reasoning for Conjunctive Queries on OWL Knowledge Bases

One of the challenges the Semantic Web community is facing today is the issue of scalable reasoning that can generate responsive results to complicated queries over large-scale OWL knowledge bases. Current large-scale semantic web systems scale to billions of triples but many such systems perform no reasoning or rely on materialization. On the other hand, most state-of-the-art, sound and complete DL reasoners are main memory-based and fail when given ontologies that include enormous data graphs in addition to expressive axioms. Thus, until now, reasoning has been restricted to either limited expressivity or limited size of the data. The focus of this thesis is to develop a scalable framework to perform sound and complete reasoning on large and expressive data graphs for answering conjunctive queries over a cluster of commodity machines. In order to achieve our goal, we outline our approach to address the following challenges: partitioning large and expressive datasets across the cluster for distributed reasoning, and allocating reasoning and queryexecution tasks involved in processing conjunctive queries to nodes of the cluster. We include evaluation results for our preliminary framework.
OSPF Monitoring: Architecture, Design, and Deployment Experience

Improving IP control plane (routing) robustness is critical to the creation of reliable and stable IP services. Yet very few tools exist for effective IP route monitoring and management. We describe the architecture, design and deployment of a monitoring system for OSPF, an IP intradomain routing protocol in wide use. The architecture has three components, separating the capture of raw LSAs (Link State Advertisements - OSPF updates), the real-time analysis of the LSA stream for problem detection, and the off-line analysis of OSPF behavior. By speaking "just enough" OSPF, the monitor gains full visibility of LSAs, while remaining totally passive and visible only at the point of attachment. We describe a methodology that allows efficient real-time detection of changes to the OSPF network topology, flapping network elements, LSA storms and anomalous behavior. The real-time analysis capabilities facilitate generation of alerts that operators can use to identify and troubleshoot problems. A flexible and efficient toolkit provides capabilities for off-line analysis of LSA archives. The toolkit enables post-mortem analysis of problems, what-if analysis that can aid in maintenance, planning, and deployment of new services, and overall understanding of OSPF behavior in large networks. We describe our experiences in deploying the OSPF monitor in a large operational ISP backbone and in a large enterprise network, as well as several examples that illustrate the effectiveness of the monitor in tracking changes to the network topology, equipment problems and routing anomalies.
Modeling Non-Stationary Opponents (Extended Abstract)

This paper studies repeated interactions between an agent and an unknown opponent that changes its strategy over time. We propose a framework for learning switching nonstationary strategies. The approach uses decision trees to learn the most up to date opponent’s strategy. Then, the agent’s strategy is computed by transforming the tree into a Markov Decision Process (MDP), whose solution dictates the optimal way of playing against the learned strategy. The agent’s learnt model is continuously re-evaluated to assess strategy switches. Our method detects such strategy switches by measuring tree similarities, and reveals whether the opponent has changed its strategy and a new model has to be learned. We evaluated the proposed approach in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma, outperforming common strategies against stationary and non-stationary opponents.
Single HA2 Mutation Increases the Infectivity and Immunogenicity of a Live Attenuated H5N1 Intranasal Influenza Vaccine Candidate Lacking NS1

Background H5N1 influenza vaccines, including live intranasal, appear to be relatively less immunogenic compared to seasonal analogs. The main influenza virus surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) was shown to be more susceptible to acidic pH treatment than that of human or low pathogenic avian influenza viruses. The acidification machinery of the human nasal passageway in response to different irritation factors starts to release protons acidifying the mucosal surface (down to pH of 5.2). We hypothesized that the sensitivity of H5 HA to the acidic environment might be the reason for the low infectivity and immunogenicity of intranasal H5N1 vaccines for mammals. Methodology/Principal Findings We demonstrate that original human influenza viruses infect primary human nasal epithelial cells at acidic pH (down to 5.4), whereas H5N1 HPAIVs lose infectivity at pH≤5.6. The HA of A/Vietnam/1203/04 was modified by introducing the single substitution HA2 58K→I, decreasing the pH of the HA conformational change. The H5N1 reassortants containing the indicated mutation displayed an increased resistance to acidic pH and high temperature treatment compared to those lacking modification. The mutation ensured a higher viral uptake as shown by immunohistochemistry in the respiratory tract of mice and 25 times lower mouse infectious dose50. Moreover, the reassortants keeping 58K→I mutation designed as a live attenuated vaccine candidate lacking an NS1 gene induced superior systemic and local antibody response after the intranasal immunization of mice. Conclusion/Significance Our finding suggests that an efficient intranasal vaccination with a live attenuated H5N1 virus may require a certain level of pH and temperature stability of HA in order to achieve an optimal virus uptake by the nasal epithelial cells and induce a sufficient immune response. The pH of the activation of the H5 HA protein may play a substantial role in the infectivity of HPAIVs for mammals.
A MULTI-LATTICE DIRECTION-ADAPTIVE DEARTIFACTING FILTER FOR IMAGE & VIDEO CODING

Recent video coding strategies, such as H.264/AVC [1], incorporate an in-loop deblocking filter in order to palliate the effects of quantization noise. Such a filter assumes a smooth model of the signal which makes it unable to deal with quantization noise introduced in textured regions and/or near edges. In order to overcome this, alternative approaches based on sparsity-based denoising using DCT assume a piecewise-stationary model of video pictures. However, under strong compression conditions, non-i.i. d. characteristics of quan tization noise and structural similarity between DCT artifacts and the transform used within the filter may make some relevant artifacts remain. This paper presents a study on a quantization noise reduction filter using sparse decompositions on several lattice samplings of a picture (e.g. quincunx sampling). This allows for direction-adaptive filtering in order to exploit signal components that are neither vertically nor horizontally oriented. As shown in the results, directionadaptive deartifacting helps to improve PSNR as well as to reduce the visual impact of non-i.i. d. noise on decoded pictures.
The Chandra View of the Supernova Remnant 0506–68.0 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

A new Chandra observation of SNR 0506-68.0 (also called N23) reveals a complex, highly structured morphology in the low-energy X-ray band and an isolated compact central object in the high-energy band. Spectral analysis indicates that the X-ray emission overall is dominated by thermal gas whose composition is consistent with swept-up ambient material. There is a strong gradient in ambient density across the diameter of the remnant. Toward the southeast, near a prominent star cluster, the emitting density is 10-23 cm-3, while toward the northwest it has dropped to a value of only 1 cm-3. The total extent of the X-ray remnant is 100′′ × 120′′ (24 × 29 pc for a distance of 50 kpc), somewhat larger than previously known. The remnant's age is estimated to be ~4600 yr. One part of the remnant shows evidence for enhanced O, Ne, and perhaps Mg abundances, which is interpreted as evidence for ejecta from a massive star core collapse supernova. The compact central object has a luminosity of a few times 1033 ergs s-1 and no obvious radio or optical counterpart. It does not show an extended nebula or pulsed emission as expected from a young energetic pulsar, but resembles the compact central objects seen in other core collapse SNe, such as Cas A.
Differential Expression of CD45 Isoforms Is Controlled by the Combined Activity of Basal and Inducible Splicing-regulatory Elements in Each of the Variable Exons*

The human CD45 gene encodes five isoforms of a transmembrane tyrosine phosphatase that differ in their extracellular domains as a result of alternative splicing of exons 4–6. Expression of the CD45 isoforms is tightly regulated in peripheral T cells such that resting cells predominantly express the larger CD45 isoforms, encoded by mRNAs containing two or three variable exons. In contrast, activated T cells express CD45 isoforms encoded by mRNAs lacking most or all of the variable exons. We have previously identified the sequences within CD45 variable exon 4 that control its level of inclusion into spliced mRNAs. Here we map the splicingregulatory sequences within CD45 variable exons 5 and 6. We show that, like exon 4, exons 5 and 6 each contain an exonic splicing silencer (ESS) and an exonic splicing enhancer (ESE), which together determine the level of exon inclusion in naïve cells. We further demonstrate that the primary activation-responsive silencing motif in exons 5 and 6 is homologous to that in exon 4 and, as in exon 4, binds specifically to the protein heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L. Together these studies reveal common themes in the regulation of the CD45 variable exons and provide a mechanistic explanation for the observed physiological expression of CD45 isoforms.
Evaluating IEEE 802.15.4 for Cyber-Physical Systems

With rapid advancements in sensing, networking, and computing technologies, recent years have witnessed the emergence of cyber-physical systems (CPS) in a broad range of application domains. CPS is a new class of engineered systems that features the integration of computation, communications, and control. In contrast to general-purpose computing systems, many cyber-physical applications are safety critical. These applications impose considerable requirements on quality of service (QoS) of the employed networking infrastruture. Since IEEE 802.15. 4 has been widely considered as a suitable protocol for CPS over wireless sensor and actuator networks, it is of vital importance to evaluate its performance extensively. Serving for this purpose, this paper will analyze the performance of IEEE 802.15. 4 standard operating in different modes respectively. Extensive simulations have been conducted to examine how network QoS will be impacted by some critical parameters. The results are presented and analyzed, which provide some useful insights for network parameter configuration and optimization for CPS design.
T Tubules and Surface Membranes Provide Equally Effective Pathways of Carbonic Anhydrase-Facilitated Lactic Acid Transport in Skeletal Muscle

We have studied lactic acid transport in the fast mouse extensor digitorum longus muscles (EDL) by intracellular and cell surface pH microelectrodes. The role of membrane-bound carbonic anhydrases (CA) of EDL in lactic acid transport was investigated by measuring lactate flux in muscles from wildtype, CAIV-, CAIX- and CAXIV-single ko, CAIV-CAXIV double ko and CAIV–CAIX–CAXIV-triple ko mice. This was complemented by immunocytochemical studies of the subcellular localization of CAIV, CAIX and CAXIV in mouse EDL. We find that CAXIV and CAIX single ko EDL exhibit markedly but not maximally reduced lactate fluxes, whereas triple ko and double ko EDL show maximal or near-maximal inhibition of CA-dependent lactate flux. Interpretation of the flux measurements in the light of the immunocytochemical results leads to the following conclusions. CAXIV, which is homogeneously distributed across the surface membrane of EDL fibers, facilitates lactic acid transport across this membrane. CAIX, which is associated only with T tubular membranes, facilitates lactic acid transport across the T tubule membrane. The removal of lactic acid from the lumen of T tubuli towards the interstitial space involves a CO2-HCO3 - diffusional shuttle that is maintained cooperatively by CAIX within the T tubule and, besides CAXIV, by the CAIV, which is strategically located at the opening of the T tubules. The data suggest that about half the CA-dependent muscular lactate flux occurs across the surface membrane, while the other half occurs across the membranes of the T tubuli.