Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CloudSwap: A Cloud-Assisted Swap Mechanism for Mobile Devices

Application caching is a key feature to enable fast application switches for mobile devices by caching the entire memory pages of applications in the device's physical memory. However, application caching requires a prohibitive amount of memory unless a swap feature is employed to maintain only the working sets of the applications in memory. Unfortunately, mobile devices often disable the invaluable swap feature as it can severely decrease the flash-based local storage device's already marginal lifespan due to the increased writes to the device. As a result, modern mobile devices suffering from the insufficient memory space end up killing memory-hungry applications and keeping only a few applications in the memory. In this paper, we propose CloudSwap, a fast and robust swap mechanism for mobile devices to enable the memory-oblivious application caching. The key idea of CloudSwap is to use the fast local storage as a cache of read-intensive swap pages, while storing prefetch-enabled, write-intensive swap pages in a cloud storage. To preserve the lifespan of the local storage, CloudSwap minimizes the number of writes to the local storage by storing the modified portions of the locally swapped pages in a cloud. To reduce the remote swap-in latency, CloudSwap exploits two cloud-assisted prefetch schemes, the app-aware read-ahead scheme and the access pattern-aware prefetch scheme. Our evaluation shows that the performance of CloudSwap is comparable to a fast, but lifespan-critical local swap system, with only 18% lifespan reduction, compared to the local swap system's 85% lifespan reduction.
lncRNAs and MYC: An Intricate Relationship

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as important regulators of gene expression networks, acting either at the transcriptional level, by influencing histone modifications, or at the post-transcriptional level, by controlling mRNA stability and translation. Among the gene expression networks known to influence the process of oncogenic transformation, the one controlled by the proto-oncogene MYC is one of the most frequently deregulated in cancer. In B-cell lymphomas, the MYC gene is subject to chromosomal rearrangements that result in MYC overexpression. In many other cancers, the region surrounding MYC is subject to gene amplification. MYC expression is also controlled at the level of protein and mRNA stability. Neoplastic lesions affecting MYC expression are responsible for a drastic change in the number and the type of genes that are transcriptionally controlled by MYC, depending on differential promoter affinities. Transcriptome profiling of tumor samples has shown that several lncRNAs can be found differentially regulated by MYC in different cancer types and many of them can influence cancer cell viability and proliferation. At the same time, lncRNAs have been shown to be able to control the expression of MYC itself, both at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Given that targeting the MYC-dependent transcriptional program has the potential to reach broad anticancer activity, molecular dissection of the complex regulatory mechanisms governing MYC expression will be crucial in the future for the identification of novel therapeutic strategies.
Preclinical Evaluation of RYM1, a Matrix Metalloproteinase–Targeted Tracer for Imaging Aneurysm

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a key role in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) development. Accordingly, MMP-targeted imaging provides important information regarding vessel wall biology in the course of aneurysm development. Given the small size of the vessel wall and its proximity with blood, molecular imaging of aneurysm optimally requires highly sensitive tracers with rapid blood clearance. To this end, we developed a novel hydrosoluble zwitterionic MMP inhibitor, RYM, on the basis of which a pan-MMP tracer, RYM1, was designed. Here, we describe the development and preclinical evaluation of RYM1 in comparison with RP805, a commonly used pan-MMP tracer in murine models of aneurysm. Methods: The macrocyclic hydroxamate-based pan-MMP inhibitor coupled with 6-hydrazinonicotinamide, RYM1, was synthesized and labeled with 99mTc. Radiochemical stability of 99mTc-RYM1 was evaluated by radio–high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Tracer blood kinetics and biodistribution were compared with 99mTc-RP805 in C57BL/6J mice (n = 10). 99mTc-RYM1 binding to aneurysm and specificity were evaluated by quantitative autoradiography in apolipoprotein E–deficient (apoE−/−) mice with CaCl2-induced carotid aneurysm (n = 11). Angiotensin II–infused apoE−/− (n = 16) mice were used for small-animal SPECT/CT imaging. Aortic tissue MMP activity and macrophage marker CD68 expression were assessed by zymography and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: RYM1 showed nanomolar range inhibition constants for several MMPs. 99mTc-RYM1 was radiochemically stable in mouse blood for 5 h and demonstrated rapid renal clearance and lower blood levels in vivo compared with 99mTc-RP805. 99mTc-RYM1 binding to aneurysm and its specificity were shown by autoradiography in carotid aneurysm. Angiotensin II infusion in apoE−/− mice for 4 wk resulted in AAA formation in 36% (4/11) of surviving animals. In vivo 99mTc-RYM1 small-animal SPECT/CT images showed higher uptake of the tracer in AAA than nondilated aortae. Finally, aortic uptake of 99mTc-RYM1 in vivo correlated with aortic MMP activity and CD68 expression. Conclusion: The newly developed pan-MMP inhibitor–based tracer 99mTc-RYM1 displays favorable pharmacokinetics for early vascular imaging and enables specific detection of inflammation and MMP activity in aneurysm.
Analytic and Diagnostic Performances of Human Papillomavirus E6/E7 mRNA Test on up-to 11-Year-Old Liquid-Based Cervical Samples. A Biobank-Based Longitudinal Study

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) E6/E7 mRNA test demonstrated high specificity in detecting HPV infections, but studies assessing its efficacy in terms of cancer risk stratification are lacking. Follow-up studies are arduous and expensive. Biobank would be the answer to the problem, although data investigating the effects of long-term storage on RNA preservation are still needed. We addressed these issues by retrieving 202 residual liquid-based cervical specimens, collected from 149 women attending cervical cancer screening during the years 2001–2012. Samples were stored in Adriatic Biobank at room temperature and without any handing. After calculation of RNA yield and purity, E6/E7 mRNA test was retrospectively performed on each samples, to assess analytic and diagnostic performances. Using automated extraction procedures, RNA of good quantity and quality was obtained. The mean value of RNA concentration was 27.5 ng/μL. The mean A260/A280 ratio was 2.1. An invalid mRNA test result was found in 11.9% of the specimens. Neither RNA integrity, nor analytic performances of mRNA test were influenced by the year of sample collection. In total, 62.4% of the specimens tested as mRNA positive; among these, 89.2% were CIN2+. E6/E7 mRNA was detected in all Squamous Cervical Cancer (SCC) cases. Percentage of positive samples increased with the severity of histological diagnosis. mRNA testing, showing specificity and predictive values of 75.6% and 84.4%, respectively, significantly improved the corresponding values for DNA testing. Thus, the reflex mRNA test was demonstrated to be suitable to triage women with persistent cervical lesions. A “one sample for all” approach is possible, with practical benefits for Biobank-based long-term longitudinal studies, diseases prevention, prediction, diagnosis and treatment.
SEM Remote Control with a 3D Option

Remote control of a scientific instrument is a topic gaining more and more attention between instrument users and operators. The project presented in this article reports results obtained from two distinct research efforts. The main outcome from the first research was the realization of an application to remote-control a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), while the main outcome from the second research was the implementation of a procedure to reconstruct 3D surfaces.
Adaptive selection of necessary and sufficient checkpoints for dynamic verification of temporal constraints in grid workflow systems

In grid workflow systems, a checkpoint selection strategy is responsible for selecting checkpoints for conducting temporal verification at the runtime execution stage. Existing representative checkpoint selection strategies often select some unnecessary checkpoints and omit some necessary ones because they cannot adapt to the dynamics and uncertainty of runtime activity completion duration. In this article, based on the dynamics and uncertainty of runtime activity completion duration, we develop a novel checkpoint selection strategy that can adaptively select not only necessary, but also sufficient checkpoints. Specifically, we introduce a new concept of minimum time redundancy as a key reference parameter for checkpoint selection. An important feature of minimum time redundancy is that it can adapt to the dynamics and uncertainty of runtime activity completion duration. We develop a method on how to achieve minimum time redundancy dynamically along grid workflow execution and investigate its relationships with temporal consistency. Based on the method and the relationships, we present our strategy and rigorously prove its necessity and sufficiency. The simulation evaluation further demonstrates experimentally such necessity and sufficiency and its significant improvement on checkpoint selection over other representative strategies.
Intermittent Access to Ethanol Drinking Facilitates the Transition to Excessive Drinking After Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure

BACKGROUND Alcohol binge drinking in humans is thought to increase the risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Unclear is whether drinking patterns (e.g., bingelike or stable drinking) differentially affect the transition to compulsive-like drinking in dependent individuals. We examined whether chronic bingelike drinking facilitates the transition to compulsive-like drinking in rats. METHODS Male Wistar rats were given 5 months of intermittent access to ethanol (EtOH) (IAE) or continuous access to EtOH (CAE) in a 2-bottle choice paradigm. Then, rats were given chronic intermittent EtOH (CIE) vapor exposure. Escalation of EtOH intake and compulsive-like responding for EtOH, using a progressive-ratio schedule of reinforcement and quinine-adulterated EtOH, were measured. RESULTS IAE rats escalated EtOH drinking after 2 weeks of 2-bottle choice, whereas CAE rats exhibited stable EtOH drinking for 5 months. After 8 weeks of CIE, both IAE + CIE and CAE + CIE rats escalated their EtOH intake. However, IAE rats escalated their EtOH intake weeks sooner than CAE rats and exhibited greater EtOH intake. No differences in compulsive-like responding were found between IAE + CIE and CAE + CIE rats. However, both IAE + CIE and CAE + CIE rats showed strong compulsive-like responding compared with rats without prior IAE or CAE. CONCLUSIONS Chronic EtOH drinking at stable or escalated levels for several months is associated with more compulsive-like responding for EtOH in rats that are exposed to CIE compared with rats without a prior history of EtOH drinking. Moreover, IAE facilitated the transition to compulsive-like responding for EtOH after CIE exposure, reflected by the escalation of EtOH intake. These results suggest that IAE may facilitate the transition to AUD. This study indicates that despite a moderate level of EtOH drinking, the IAE animal model is highly relevant to early stages of alcohol abuse and suggests that it may be associated with neuroadaptations that produce a faster transition to alcohol dependence.
Dynamic assessment of narrative ability in English accurately identifies language impairment in English language learners.

PURPOSE To assess the identification accuracy of dynamic assessment (DA) of narrative ability in English for children learning English as a 2nd language. METHOD A DA task was administered to 54 children: 18 Spanish-English-speaking children with language impairment (LI); 18 age-, sex-, IQ- and language experience-matched typical control children; and an additional 18 age- and language experience-matched comparison children. A variety of quantitative and qualitative measures were collected in the pretest phase, the mediation phase, and the posttest phase of the study. Exploratory discriminant analysis was used to determine the set of measures that best differentiated among this group of children with and without LI. RESULTS A combination of examiner ratings of modifiability (compliance, metacognition, and task orientation), DA story scores (setting, dialogue, and complexity of vocabulary), and ungrammaticality (derived from the posttest narrative sample) classified children with 80.6% to 97.2% accuracy. CONCLUSION DA conducted in English provides a systematic means for measuring learning processes and learning outcomes, resulting in a clinically useful procedure for identifying LIs in bilingual children who are in the process of learning English as a second language.
Physiological Mechanisms in Combined Electric-Acoustic Stimulation.

OBJECTIVE Electrical stimulation is normally performed on ears that have no hearing function, i.e., lack functional hair cells. The properties of electrically-evoked responses in these cochleae were investigated in several previous studies. Recent clinical developments have introduced cochlear implantation (CI) in residually-hearing ears to improve speech understanding in noise. The present study documents the known physiological differences between electrical stimulation of hair cells and of spiral ganglion cells, respectively, and reviews the mechanisms of combined electric and acoustic stimulation in the hearing ears. DATA SOURCES Literature review from 1971 to 2016. CONCLUSIONS Compared with pure electrical stimulation the combined electroacoustic stimulation provides additional low-frequency information and expands the dynamic range of the input. Physiological studies document a weaker synchronization of the evoked activity in electrically stimulated hearing ears compared with deaf ears that reduces the hypersynchronization of electrically-evoked activity. The findings suggest the possibility of balancing the information provided by acoustic and electric input using stimulus intensity. Absence of distorting acoustic-electric interactions allows exploiting these clinical benefits of electroacoustic stimulation.
Structural and Preclinical Studies of Computationally Designed Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors for Treating HIV infection

The clinical benefits of HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors (NNRTIs) are hindered by their unsatisfactory pharmacokinetic (PK) properties along with the rapid development of drug-resistant variants. However, the clinical efficacy of these inhibitors can be improved by developing compounds with enhanced pharmacological profiles and heightened antiviral activity. We used computational and structure-guided design to develop two next-generation NNRTI drug candidates, compounds I and II, which are members of a class of catechol diethers. We evaluated the preclinical potential of these compounds in BALB/c mice because of their high solubility (510 µg/ml for compound I and 82.9 µg/ml for compound II), low cytotoxicity, and enhanced antiviral activity against wild-type (WT) HIV-1 RT and resistant variants. Additionally, crystal structures of compounds I and II with WT RT suggested an optimal binding to the NNRTI binding pocket favoring the high anti-viral potency. A single intraperitoneal dose of compounds I and II exhibited a prolonged serum residence time of 48 hours and concentration maximum (Cmax) of 4000- to 15,000-fold higher than their therapeutic/effective concentrations. These Cmax values were 4- to 15-fold lower than their cytotoxic concentrations observed in MT-2 cells. Compound II showed an enhanced area under the curve (0–last) and decreased plasma clearance over compound I and efavirenz, the standard of care NNRTI. Hence, the overall (PK) profile of compound II was excellent compared with that of compound I and efavirenz. Furthermore, both compounds were very well tolerated in BALB/c mice without any detectable acute toxicity. Taken together, these data suggest that compounds I and II possess improved anti-HIV-1 potency, remarkable in vivo safety, and prolonged in vivo circulation time, suggesting strong potential for further development as new NNRTIs for the potential treatment of HIV infection.
Online Consumer Behaviour and Competitor Performance in the Mexican Bank Market

The combination of smarter customers and increased use of the Internet in Mexico means that the Internet is now an important competitive weapon to acquire new customers and also to retain existing customers. Previous research into online strategies in banking has tended to focus on either high-level strategic outcomes or on internal web data that is specific to a particular bank. In this paper, online panel data is used to generate insights into consumer behavior and bank performance in the key areas of share of online search, share of e-service and overall levels of online banking. It is shown that the market leader Banamex is underperforming in the online channel relative to its market share. In contrast, the online attackers HSBC and Scotiabank are very strong in terms of their Internet performance. By distinguishing online activity into two groups, search and e-service, it is shown that smaller banks have an inherent advantage in online markets for customers searching out a new banking relationship – this is termed the ‘online attacker advantage’. The theoretical and managerial implications are outlined for the use of panel data generally and the results of the analysis concerning the Mexican banking industry specifically.
Post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder prevention: new light on the horizon?

Solid organ transplantation represents the ultimate therapeutic option for terminal organ failure and has experienced a tremendous success in the last decades. However, major problems, such as the risks associated with life-long immunosuppression, have not been resolved so far. These risks are mainly three-fold: (i) infections (usual and opportunistic ones), (ii) increased cancer incidence, and (iii) cardiovascular complications (newly induced or aggravated by chronic immunosuppression) (1). There is also a close relation between infection and cancer, since certain viruses directly cause cancers such as post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD; mainly caused by Epstein-Barr virus, EBV), cervical cancer (papillomavirus) or Kaposi sarcoma (human herpesvirus 8) (2). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Reduced Neighborhood Search Algorithms for Low Complexity Detection in MIMO Systems

Neighborhood search algorithms such as likelihood ascent search (LAS) and reactive tabu search (RTS) have been proposed for low complexity detection in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems having a large number of antennas. Both these algorithms are iterative and search for the vector which minimizes the maximum likelihood (ML) cost in the neighborhood. In this paper we propose a way to reduce the size of the neighborhood. For this, we propose a metric and a selection rule to decide whether or not to include a vector in the neighborhood. We use the indices of, say $K$, largest components of the metric for generating a reduced neighborhood set. This reduced set is used to evaluate the performance of the resulting LAS and RTS algorithms. Simulation results show that this reduces the complexity significantly while maintaining the error performance. We also show that the proposed reduced neighborhood algorithms can make MIMO systems with several hundred antenna pairs feasible.
Perceptions of the influence of computer-mediated communication on the health and well-being of early adolescents

ABSTRACT Recent technological advances have provided many youth with daily, almost continuous cell-phone and Internet connectivity through portable devices. Young people’s experiences with computer-mediated communication (CMC) and their views about how this form of communication affects their health have not been fully explored in the scientific literature. A purposeful maximum variation sample of young people (aged 11–15 years) across Ontario was identified, using key informants for recruitment. The young people participated in seven focus groups (involving a total of 40 adolescents), and discussed various aspects of health including the health impacts of CMC. Inductive content analysis of the focus group transcripts revealed two overarching concepts: first, that the relationship between health and the potential impacts of CMC is multidimensional; and secondly, that there exists a duality of both positive and negative potential influences of CMC on health. Within this framework, four themes were identified involving CMC and: (1) physical activity, (2) negative mental and emotional disturbance, (3) mindfulness, and (4) relationships. With this knowledge, targeted strategies for healthy technology use that draw on the perspectives of young people can be developed, and can then be implemented by parents, teachers, and youth themselves.
Preparation and Properties of Mdi-Based Polyester Polyurethane Elastomer

Polyurethane has been usually used as protective coating on structures, with an important mechanism being the impact-induced transition of the rubber to the glassy state. The better the mechanical property, the greater the mechanical loss, the wider the Tg range, and the Tg is more close to, but less than, the operating temperature, the better the protective coating. Here, the pre-polymer method is adopted to synthesize MDI-based polyester polyurethane (TPU) which has different hard segment contents. The influence of the hard segment content on the relevant performance of TPU is investigated. With the increase of the hard segment content, the tensile strength, Tg of the soft segment phase and the mechanical loss increase, while the viscosity of reaction solution increases rapidly, the elongation at break declines sharply, and the range of the Tg becomes narrower and narrower. Therefore, in order to obtain excellent protective coating, the hard segment content should not be too high. Testing proves 16.18% hard segment content to be most effective.
Occipital white matter tracts in human and macaque

We compare the major white matter tracts in human and macaque occipital lobe using diffusion MRI. The comparison suggests similarities but also significant differences in spatial arrangement and relative sizes of the tracts. There are several apparently homologous tracts in the two species, including the vertical occipital fasciculus (VOF), optic radiation, forceps major, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). There is one large human tract, the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, with no corresponding fasciculus in macaque. The macaque VOF is compact and its fibers intertwine with the dorsal segment of the ILF, but the human VOF is much more elongated in the anterior-posterior direction and may be lateral to the ILF. These similarities and differences will be useful in establishing which circuitry in the macaque can serve as an accurate model for human visual cortex. Contact information Hiromasa Takemura, Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, and Osaka University, Japan htakemur@nict.go. jp Author contribution Designed the study: HT FP BAW. Performed the experiments. HT FP GAK SML JS FQY DAL WAF NKL. Analyzed the data. HT FP KSW MAB BAW. Contributed analysis tools. FP KSW MAB. Wrote the paper. HT FP KSW BAW.