Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trivergence of Probability Distributions, at glance

In this paper we introduce the intuitive notion of trivergence of probability distributions (TPD). This notion allow us to calculate the similarity among triplets of objects. For this computation, we can use the well known measures of probability divergences like Kullback-Leibler and Jensen-Shannon. Divergence measures may be used in Information Retrieval tasks as Automatic Text Summarization, Text Classification, among many others.
Oh my, where is the end of the context?: dealing with information in a highly complex environment

This paper reports on the preliminary results of a study in information production, transmission, access and use in aerospace manufacturing and maintenance. Multiple techniques were used in order to understand the context in which the information flow takes place. The complexity is such that after several meetings with users the full picture is not fully detailed yet. Previously unknown documents, user roles and tasks continue to emerge while the study progresses. The conclusion is that an iterative approach should be adopted when studying highly complex environments: starting from the broadest view, each cycle progressively focuses on a sub-context to identify important details. Researchers should also keep an open mind as unexpected findings are likely to impacts on the current understanding, i.e. discovering the importance of social networks or physical inspection of the hardware as means to access information.
An optical interconnection network for terabit IP routers

As data traffic increases exponentially in the Internet, a need of deploying ATM switches or IP routers with terabit/s capacity is emerging. By taking advantage of the advanced wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology, we propose a nonblocking WDM-based optical interconnection network (OIN) to interconnect multiple electronic router modules (RMs), where packets are stored and processed. The proposed architecture uses an input-output buffering scheme, where the OIN operates at twice the line rates to alleviate the head-of-line blocking and thus achieves close to 100% throughput. The OIN is capable of performing multicasting using the method of broadcast and select. Output port contention among the input packets is resolved by a novel ping-pong arbitration (PPA) scheme. For a 256-input packet switch, the arbitration can be completed within 11 gates delay, less than 5 ns using the current CMOS technology. We analyze the complexity of the OIN in optical components and interconnections, its power budget, and crosstalk caused by the finite ON-OFF ratio of optical switching gates. Bit error rates with respect to different ON-OFF ratios and extinction ratios are evaluated by simulations. The result shows that it is feasible to construct a 256/spl times/256 OIN with existing technology.
Hierarchical wrinkling in a confined permeable biogel

The dance of a yoghurt and its whey, ruled by viscosity and porosity, creates concentric wrinkles that mimic morphogenesis. Caseins, a family of milk proteins, are used as building blocks of a porous biogel film immersed in a viscous medium. Confined thin surfaces may wrinkle as a result of the growth of excess material. Elasticity or gravity usually sets the wavelength. We explore new selection mechanisms based on hydrodynamics. First, inspired by yoghurt-making processes, we use caseins (a family of milk proteins) as pH-responsive building blocks and the acidulent glucono-δ-lactone to design a porous biogel film immersed in a confined buoyancy-matched viscous medium. Under specific boundary conditions yet without any external stimulus, the biogel film spontaneously wrinkles in cascade. Second, using a combination of titration, rheology, light microscopy, and confocal microscopy, we demonstrate that, during continuous acidification, the gel first shrinks and then swells, inducing wrinkling. Third, taking into account both Darcy flow through the gel and Poiseuille flow in the surrounding solvent, we develop a model that correctly predicts the wrinkling wavelength. Our results should be universal for acid-induced protein gels because they are based on pH-induced charge stabilization/destabilization and therefore could set a benchmark to gain fundamental insights into wrinkled biological tissues, to texture food, or to design surfaces for optical purposes.
Model validation: Robot behavior in people guidance mission using DTM model and estimation of human motion behavior

This paper describes the validation process of a simulation model that have been used to explore the new possibilities of interaction when humans are guided by teams of robots that work cooperatively in urban areas. The set of experiments, which have been recorded as video sequences, show a group of people being guided by a team of three people (who play the role of the guide robots). The model used in the simulation process is called Discrete Time Motion model (DTM) described in [7], where the environment is modeled using a set of potential fields, and people's motion is represented through tension functions. The video sequences were recorded in an urban space of 10:000 m2 denominated Barcelona Robot Lab, where people move in the urban space following diverse trajectories. The motion (pose and velocity) of people and robots extracted from the video sequences were compared against the predictions of the DTM model. Finally, we checked the proper functioning of the model by studying the position error differences of the recorded and simulated sequences.
Exploring the affect of abstract motion in social human-robot interaction

We present our exploration of the emotional impact that abstract robot motion has on human-robot interaction (HRI). We argue for the importance of designing for the fundamental characteristics of physical robot motion as distinct from designing the robot's visual appearance or functional context. We discuss our design approach, the creation of an abstract robotic motion platform that is nearly formless and affordance-less, and our evaluation of the affect abstract motion had on more than thirty participants which interacted with our robotic platform in a series of studies. We detail our results and explain how different styles of robot motion were mapped to emotional responses in human observers. We believe that our findings can inform and provide important insight into the purposeful use of motion as a design tool in social human-robot interaction.
Toward a Theory of Coordinating: Creating Coordinating Mechanisms in Practice

This paper uses a practice perspective to study coordinating as dynamic activities that are continuously created and modified in order to enact organizational relationships and activities. It is based on the case of Servico, an organization undergoing a major restructuring of its value chain in response to a change in government regulation. In our case, the actors iterate between the abstract concept of a coordinating mechanism referred to as end-to-end management and its performance in practice. They do this via five performative–ostensive cycles: (1) enacting disruption, (2) orienting to absence, (3) creating elements, (4) forming new patterns, and (5) stabilizing new patterns. These cycles and the relationships between them constitute a process model of coordinating. This model highlights the importance of absence in the coordinating process and demonstrates how experiencing absence shapes subsequent coordinating activity.
SEU Simulation Framework for Xilinx FPGA: First Step towards Testing Fault Tolerant Systems

In the paper, the SEU simulation framework for testing fault tolerant system designs implemented into FPGA is presented. The framework is based on SEU generation outside FPGA (in personal computer) and the transport of modified bit stream through the JTAG interface and subsequent dynamic reconfiguration of FPGA. It allows to select region of the FPGA for SEU placing. The SEU simulator does not require any changes in the tested design and is fully independent on the function implemented into FPGA. The requirements on the SEU generator and its properties are described in the paper as well. The external SEU generator for Xilinx FPGA was implemented and verified on evaluation board ML506 with Virtex5 for different types of RTL circuits and fault tolerant architectures. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the methodology.
Cystatin C and glomerular filtration rate in the cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare cystatin C versus creatinine as a marker for acute kidney injury in patients submitted to cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. METHODS Fifty consecutive patients submitted to coronary artery bypass grafting were studied. Renal function was evaluated by serum cystatin C and creatinine. Blood samples were obtained from each patient at three time points: before operation, and on the first and fifth postoperative days. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated by Cockcroft-Gault (CG), Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), and Larsson (Cys-GFR) formulas. RESULTS Creatinine and GFR by CG and MDRD formulas did not show statistical difference between study times. After renal injury from surgery, there was an increase in cystatin C on the 1st and 5th day after surgery, being significantly different on the 5th postoperative (P<0.01). The GFR by Larson formula was higher in the preoperative time (105.2 +/- 41.0 ml/min) than in the 5th postoperative day (89.5+/- 31.5 ml/min; P<0.012). CONCLUSION The cystatin C and the Cys-GFR showed significant changes after cardiac surgery when compared with the creatinine and respective GFR calculated by the Cockcroft-Gault and MDRD formulas.
Oral submucous fibrosis: study of 1000 cases from central India.

BACKGROUND Very few reports have been published on the gender specificity of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) in relation to habit patterns and the severity of disease in the world literature. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the gender specificity for different habits and severity of OSF. METHODS A hospital-based cross-sectional study on various habit patterns associated with OSF was performed in Nagpur over a 5-year period. A total of 1000 OSF cases from 266,418 out patients comprised the study sample. RESULTS The male-to-female ratio of OSF was 4.9:1. Occurrence of OSF was at a significant younger age group (<30 years) among men when compared with women (OR = 4.62, 3.22-6.63, P = 0.0001). Reduced mouth opening, altered salivation and altered taste sensation were found to be significantly more prevalent in women when compared with men. Exclusive areca nut chewing habit was significantly more prevalent in women (OR = 44.5, 25.4-79.8, P = 0.0001). Whereas significant increase for Gutkha (Areca quid with tobacco) (OR = 2.33, 1.56-3.54, P = 0.0001) and kharra/Mawa (crude combination of areca nut and tobacco) (OR = 6.8, 4.36-11.06, P = 0.0001) chewing was found in men when compared with women. CONCLUSIONS There is a marked difference in literacy, socioeconomic status, areca nut chewing habits, symptoms and disease severity in women when compared with men in the central Indian population.
Delineation of molecular changes in intrahepatic cholesterol metabolism resulting from diminished cholesterol absorption Published, JLR Papers in Press, January 16, 2005. DOI 10.1194/jlr.M400475-JLR200

The absorption of cholesterol by the small intestine is a major route for the net entry of cholesterol into the body and can therefore affect the plasma low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration. These studies used ezetimibe, a potent inhibitor of cholesterol absorption, to delineate the biochemical and molecular changes in intrahepatic metabolism and biliary lipid secretion when there is a major reduction in chylomicron cholesterol delivery to the liver. In female LDL receptor (LDLR)-deficient (LDLR−/−) mice fed a basal diet containing ezetimibe (0–10 mg/day/kg body weight), cholesterol absorption was reduced up to 91%, fecal neutral sterol excretion was increased up to 4.7-fold, and plasma total cholesterol concentrations decreased by up to 18%. Blocking cholesterol absorption prevented the accumulation of very low density lipoproteins and LDL in the circulation of LDLR−/− mice fed a lipid-rich diet. In female LDLR+/+ mice fed the lipid-rich diet with ezetimibe, the relative mRNA level for the LDLR in the liver was 2-fold greater than in matching mice given the lipid-rich diet alone. We conclude that in the mouse the reduction in plasma LDL-C levels induced by blocking cholesterol absorption reflects both a diminished rate of LDL-C production and a modest increase in hepatic LDLR expression.
What Can New Survey Data Tell Us About Recent Changes in Distribution and Poverty?

The authors used distribution data from 109 household surveys done since 1980 in 42 developing and transitional economies to find evidence that high rates of growth in average living standards are associated with higher rates of poverty reduction. The adverse distributional effect of recent growth in a number of developing countries has not been strong enough to change the conclusion that growth has benefited the poor. For the developing countries as a whole, there is no significant trend in distributional effect for or against the poor. Overall there was a small decrease in poverty incidence in 1987-93, though experiences differed across regions and countries. There was no general tendency for inequality or polarization to increase with growth. Distribution improves as often as it worsens in growing economies, and negative growth often appears to be highly detrimental to distribution. Poor people typically do share in rising average living standards. This holds in all regions. Turning to performance in reducing absolute poverty, the authors calculated the rates of change in the proportions of the population living on less than 50 percent, 75 percent, and 100 percent of the initial survey mean for each country. In East Asia, poverty fell in most cases, while it rose in almost all cases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Poverty also mainly rose in Africa and it rose in South Asia and Latin America about as often as it fell. Other results discussed include population percentage changes for those in poverty and the percentage change in the depth of poverty.
Data security and integrity in cloud computing based on RSA partial homomorphic and MD5 cryptography

With the continuous advancement in technical field many technologies are evolving day by day, cloud computing is one of them. With the help of cloud computing user can easily share, store and retrieve their data from anywhere. Cloud computing provides hardware, software and infrastructural storage to many users at a time. As many users share their data on a cloud the main question is about security of data present on cloud. In this research paper solution is provided to maintain data security and data integrity. This scheme contains a combination of RSA Partial homomorphic and MD5 hashing algorithm. In this solution data is encrypted by RSA Partial before uploading it on cloud server. After uploading its hash value is calculated by MD5 hashing scheme. All these approaches undergo through the following steps Encryption/Decryption, Data uploading on a cloud, Hashing and Verification.
Incidence and Predictive Factors of Cerebral Hyperperfusion After Extracranial-Intracranial Bypass for Occlusive Cerebrovascular Diseases

BACKGROUND: Although many studies of postoperative cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome (CHS) after carotid endarterectomy have been reported, there are few reports related to extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass for atherosclerotic occlusive cerebrovascular diseases. OBJECTIVE: To examine the incidence of cerebral hyperperfusion and CHS after EC-IC bypass and to investigate predictive factors. METHODS: Fifty consecutive patients undergoing EC-IC bypass for atherosclerotic occlusive cerebrovascular diseases were studied. Immediately after bypass surgery, resting regional cerebral blood flow was determined under continuous sedation, and postoperative hyperperfusion was evaluated according to the definitions as follows: > 50% increase in regional cerebral blood flow compared with the contralateral side (method 1) and > 100% increase in corrected regional cerebral blood flow compared with preoperative values (method 2). Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the effect of multiple variables on postoperative hyperperfusion. RESULTS: Transient symptoms of CHS were observed in 3 patients. Cerebral hyperperfusion was detected in 12 patients (24%) as defined by method 1 and in 9 patients (18%) by method 2. Postoperative hyperperfusion occurred significantly more frequently in patients with the steal phenomenon (regional cerebral vasoreactivity ≤ 0%; P = .001 by method 1 and P = .001 by method 2) and correlated with impaired preoperative regional cerebral vasoreactivity (P < .001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the steal phenomenon was a significant risk factor for hyperperfusion as defined by both methods 1 (P = .009) and 2 (P = .03). CONCLUSION: The incidence of cerebral blood flow-assessed postoperative hyperperfusion after EC-IC bypass for atherosclerotic occlusive cerebrovascular diseases was not rare. Post EC-IC bypass CHS could be reduced by continuous, strict blood pressure control under sedation.
Executive Functions in Dyslexia

This study focused on executive functions in dyslexia. A group of 43 heavily-affected young dyslexics, divided into two groups based on the results of a receptive language test, and 20 non-dyslexic controls, were tested with a Dichotic Listening Test, the Stroop Color Word Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The dyslexic subjects demonstrated significant impairment on all tasks, but with different patterns of impairment according to the subgrouping. The subgroups were equally impaired on the Dichotic Listening Test, but differed on the Stroop and the Wisconsin Tests. The data support a hypothesis suggesting executive problems in dyslexia, depending on receptive language skills.
Enhanced QoS Support with Self Reconfigurable Wireless Mesh Networks

Support for multimedia quality of service (QoS) is critical and necessary requirement for next generation wireless networks. Wireless Mesh Networking is envisioned as an economically viable paradigm and a promising technology for supporting multimedia QoS. To maximize the aggregate utilization of traffic flows in a multi-hop wireless network, with constraints imposed both due to self-interference and minimum rate requirements, various parameters are taken into consideration . they are individual nodes transmission powers and the channels assigned to the different communication links. During their lifetime, multi-hop wireless mesh networks (WMNs) experience frequent link failures caused by various reason such as channel interference. These failures cause severe performance degradation in WMNs. This paper presents an Autonomous network Reconfiguration System (ARS) that enables a multi-radio WMN to autonomously recover from local link failures to preserve network performance. We provide numerical results to demonstrate the efficacy of our framework. Keywords— Wireless Mesh Network (WMN), QoS, Resource allocation, admission control, Autonomous network Reconfiguration system
Methyltransferase PRMT1 Is a Binding Partner of HBx and a Negative Regulator of Hepatitis B Virus Transcription

ABSTRACT The hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) is essential for virus replication and has been implicated in the development of liver cancer. HBx is recruited to viral and cellular promoters and activates transcription by interacting with transcription factors and coactivators. Here, we purified HBx-associated factors in nuclear extracts from HepG2 hepatoma cells and identified protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) as a novel HBx-interacting protein. We showed that PRMT1 overexpression reduced the transcription of hepatitis B virus (HBV), and this inhibition was dependent on the methyltransferase function of PRMT1. Conversely, depletion of PRMT1 correlated with increased HBV transcription. Using a quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we found that PRMT1 is recruited to HBV DNA, suggesting a direct effect of PRMT1 on the regulation of HBV transcription. Finally, we showed that HBx expression inhibited PRMT1-mediated protein methylation. Downregulation of PRMT1 activity was further observed in HBV-replicating cells in an in vivo animal model. Altogether, our results support the notion that the binding of HBx to PRMT1 might benefit viral replication by relieving the inhibitory activity of PRMT1 on HBV transcription.
Reasoning about Objects Using a Tableau Method

An object is understood as a dynamic entity whose attributes can be observed and modified through the occurrences of its events. In order to reason about such an object, a logical language and a tableau method are presented in this paper. Objects and their properties can be described by a set of formulae based on their signatures. The tableau method is an extension and a development of a first-order tableau method. To confute a finite set of formulae is to construct a set of tableaux and define some dependency relations on them. A simple illustrative example is also given to show how to reason about objects using our method.
Towards an Automated Semiotic Analysis of the Romanian Political Discourse

As it is known, on the political scene the success of a speech can be measured by the degree in which the speaker is able to change attitudes, opinions, feelings and political beliefs in his auditorium. We suggest a range of analysis tools, all belonging to semiotics, from lexical-semantic, to syntactical and rhetorical, that integrated in the exploratory panoply of discursive weapons of a political speaker could in∞uence the impact of her/his speeches over a sensible auditory. Our approach is based on the assumption that semiotics, in its quality of methodology and meta-language, can capitalize a situational analysis over the political discourse. Such an analysis assumes establishing the communication situation, in our case, the Parliament’s vote in favour of suspending the Romanian President, through which we can describe an action of communication. We depict a platform, the Discourse Analysis Tool (DAT), which integrates a range of natural language processing tools with the intent to identify signiflcant characteristics of the political discourse. The tool is able to produce comparative diagrams between the speeches of two or more subjects or analysing the same subject in difierent contexts. Only the lexical-semantic methods are operational in the platform today, but our investigation suggests new dimensions touching the syntactic, rhetorical and coherence perspective.