Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Technology heirlooms?: considerations for passing down and inheriting digital materials

Material artifacts are passed down as a way of sustaining relationships and family history. However, new issues are emerging as families are increasingly left with the digital remains of their loved ones. We designed three devices to investigate how digital materials might be passed down, lived with and inherited in the future. We conducted in-home interviews with 8 families using the devices to provoke discussion about how technology might support (or complicate) their existing practices. Sessions revealed families desired to treat their archives in ways not fully supported by technology as well as potential tensions that could emerge. Findings are interpreted to detail design considerations for future work in this emerging space.
Cognitive Impairment in Spinocerebellar Degeneration

It has been reported that patients with spinocerebellar degenerations (SCDs) have cognitive dysfunction as well as limb and truncal ataxia, dysarthria and dysphagia. We review cognitive dysfunction in common types of SCD, including spinocerebellar ataxia types 1, 2, 3, 6, and 17, dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy, Friedreich’s ataxia, and multiple system atrophy. There are few studies that address cognitive function in SCD. Although there are few comparison studies among the various SCDs, cognitive dysfunction may be more common and severe in spinocerebellar ataxia type 17 and dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy. While cognitive dysfunction in SCD appears to represent frontal dysfunction, the mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction have not been directly clarified. Nevertheless, various lesions, including those in the cerebrocerebellar circuitry, cortico-striatal-thalamocortical circuitry, and the frontal lobe, may influence cognitive function to various degrees for each disease.
Cascading of habitat degradation: Oyster reefs invaded by refugee fishes escaping stress

Mobile consumers have potential to cause a cascading of habitat degradation beyond the region that is directly stressed, by concentrating in refuges where they intensify biological interactions and can deplete prey resources. We tested this hypothesis on structurally complex, species-rich biogenic reefs created by the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in the Neuse River estuary, North Carolina, USA. We (1) sampled fishes and invertebrates on natural and restored reefs and on sand bottom to compare fish utilization of these different habitats and to characterize the trophic relations among large reef-associated fishes and benthic invertebrates, and (2) tested whether bottom-water hypoxia and fishery-caused degradation of reef habitat combine to induce mass emigration of fish that then modify community composition in refuges across an estuarine seascape. Experimentally restored oyster reefs of two heights (1 m tall “degraded” or 2 m tall “natural” reefs) were constructed at 3 and 6 m depths. We sampled.
A Biased Random Walk Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks: The Lukewarm Potato Protocol

Low-latency data delivery is an important requirement for achieving effective monitoring through wireless sensor networks. When sensor nodes employ duty cycling, sending a message along the shortest path, however, does not necessarily result in minimum delay. In this paper, we first study the lowest latency path problem, i.e., the characteristics of a path with minimum delay that connects a source node to the sink under random duty cycling nodes. Then, we propose a forwarding protocol based on biased random walks, where nodes only use local information about neighbors and their next active period to make forwarding decisions. We refer to this as lukewarm potato forwarding. Our analytical model and simulation experiments show that it is possible to reduce path latency without significantly increasing the number of transmissions (energy efficiency) needed to deliver the message to the destination. In particular, although deviating from the shortest path requires additional transmissions, and hence, higher energy consumption, this increase is compensated by a lighter duty cycle. Our experiments show that, overall, we can save up to 15 percent of energy while obtaining the same data delivery delay as shortest path routing. Additionally, the proposed solution is tunable. By changing the value of just one threshold parameter, it can be tuned to operate anywhere in the continuum from hot potato/random walk forwarding protocol to a deterministic shortest path forwarding protocol.
Experimental Assessment of a Threshold Selection Algorithm for Tuning Classifiers in the Field of Hierarchical Text Categorization

Text Categorization is the task of assigning predened categories to text documents. It can provide conceptual views of document collections and has many important applications in the real world. Nowadays, most of the research on text categorization has focused on mapping text documents to a set of categories among which structural relationships hold. Without loss of generality, let us assume that a classier
Joint Beamforming and Power Control for Multiantenna Relay Broadcast Channel With QoS Constraints

This paper studies the two-hop relay broadcast channel (BC) for a relay-assisted wireless cellular network where the multiuser independent downlink signals from the base station (BS) are first transmitted to a fixed relay station (RS), and then forwarded by the RS to multiple mobile users. Assuming both the BS and RS are equipped with multiantennas, we study the joint optimization of linear beamforming and power control at the BS and RS so as to minimize their weighted sum-power consumption under the user minimum signal-to-interference-noise-ratio (SINR) - quality-of-service (QoS) - constraints. We apply two well-known criteria in the literature, namely, the ldquoSINR balancingrdquo and the ldquochannel-inversion,rdquo for the design of linear precoding in the traditional nonrelay-assisted multiantenna BC to the relay-assisted multiantenna BC. First, a convergence-ensured iterative SINR-balancing algorithm is proposed to successively in turn optimize the transmit parameters at one station (BS or RS) with those at the other station being fixed. Second, a joint BS and RS channel-inversion algorithm is proposed together with a novel technique, termed ldquoeigenmode switching,rdquo at the RS to reduce the power penalty of the channel inversion. Simulation results show that the proposed joint beamforming and power control schemes provide substantial power savings to achieve the assigned user QoS constraints.
LaPerm: Locality Aware Scheduler for Dynamic Parallelism on GPUs

Recent developments in GPU execution models and architectures have introduced dynamic parallelism to facilitate the execution of irregular applications where control flow and memory behavior can be unstructured, time-varying, and hierarchical. The changes brought about by this extension to the traditional bulk synchronous parallel (BSP) model also creates new challenges in exploiting the current GPU memory hierarchy. One of the major challenges is that the reference locality that exists between the parent and child thread blocks (TBs) created during dynamic nested kernel and thread block launches cannot be fully leveraged using the current TB scheduling strategies. These strategies were designed for the current implementations of the BSP model but fall short when dynamic parallelism is introduced since they are oblivious to the hierarchical reference locality. We propose LaPerm, a new locality-aware TB scheduler that exploits such parent-child locality, both spatial and temporal. LaPerm adopts three different scheduling decisions to i) prioritize the execution of the child TBs, ii) bind them to the stream multiprocessors (SMXs) occupied by their parents TBs, and iii) maintain workload balance across compute units. Experiments with a set of irregular CUDA applications executed on a cycle-level simulator employing dynamic parallelism demonstrate that LaPerm is able to achieve an average of 27% performance improvement over the baseline round-robin TB scheduler commonly used in modern GPUs.
Consumer-Oriented Tech Mining: Integrating the Consumer Perspective into Organizational Technology Intelligence - The Case of Autonomous Driving

To avoid missing technological opportunities and to counteract risks, organizations have to scan and monitor developments in the external environment through a structured process of technology intelligence. Previous approaches in tech mining—the application of text mining for technology intelligence —have primarily focused on the elicitation of technical or legal information from web, patent, or research databases. However, knowledge of consumers’ needs, fears, and hopes is a prerequisite for the success of an emerging technology in the marketplace. Thus, we claim that technology intelligence needs to also consider consumers’ technology perceptions. Hence, we propose a novel and comprehensive approach to collect user-generated content from the web and apply text mining to derive consumer perceptions. In doing so, we align with an established tech-mining process. This paper illustrates our approach on the emerging technology of autonomous driving and provides an initial indication of concurrent validity.
Minimal Access Retroperitoneal Pancreatic Necrosectomy: Improvement in Morbidity and Mortality With a Less Invasive Approach

Objective:Comparison of minimal access retroperitoneal pancreatic necrosectomy (MARPN) versus open necrosectomy in the treatment of infected or nonresolving pancreatic necrosis. Summary of Background Data:Infected pancreatic necrosis may lead to progressive organ failure and death. Minimal access techniques have been developed in an attempt to reduce the high mortality of open necrosectomy. Methods:This was a retrospective analysis on a prospective data base comprising 189 consecutive patients undergoing MARPN or open necrosectomy (August 1997 to September 2008). Outcome measures included total and postoperative ICU and hospital stays, organ dysfunction, complications and mortality using an intention to treat analysis. Results:Overall 137 patients underwent MARPN versus open necrosectomy in 52. Median (range) age of the patients was 57.5 (18–85) years; 118 (62%) were male. A total of 131 (69%) patients were tertiary referrals, with a median time to transfer from index hospital of 19 (2–76) days. Etiology was gallstones or alcohol in 129 cases (68%); 98 of 168 (58%) patients had a positive culture at the first procedure. Of the 137 patients, 34 (31%) had postoperative organ failure in the MARPN group, and 39 of 52 (56%) in the open group (P < 0.0001); 59/137 (43%) versus 40/52 (77%), respectively, required postoperative ICU support (P < 0.0001). Of the 137 patients 75 (55%) had complications in the MARPN group and 42 of 52 (81%) in the open group (P = 0.001). There were 26 (19%) deaths in the MARPN group and 20 (38%) following open procedure (P = 0.009). Age (P < 0.0001), preoperative multiorgan failure (P < 0.0001), and surgical procedure (MARPN, P = 0.016) were independent predictors of mortality. Conclusion:This study has shown significant benefits for a minimal access approach including fewer complications and deaths compared with open necrosectomy.
CCL20‐CCR6 Cytokine Network Facilitate Treg Activity in Advanced Grades and Metastatic Variants of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Tumour immunity regulates tumour restriction to the site of occurrence. Failure of this balance facilitates tumour spread beyond the primary organ of origin. Tregs are known to be recruited in infections, including viral infections like hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Thus, they form a continuum of initial viral infection, an environment of immune suppression by recruitment of Tregs, intrinsic viral‐mediated nuclear transformation and carcinogenesis, and thereafter worsening of progress, including metastasis due to the Tregs suppressing the cell‐mediated destruction of tumour cells. In this study, we obtained advanced grades of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and examined the cytokines that is potentially known to recruit Tregs. We examined the expression of CCL20, the cytokine that recruits Tregs. We isolated Tregs from HCC samples and examined expression of CCR6, the receptor for CCL20 and compared expression in control tissues obtained mainly from subjects with cirrhosis, but no evidence of cancer. The findings of this study indicate that mRNA expression of CCL20 is significantly enhanced, along with expression of mRNA for the cytokines IL17 and IL6. Furthermore, tissue expression of Gamma‐interferon was reduced in HCC. When Tregs were isolated from the liver cancer samples, the expression of CCR6, the only and specific receptor for CCL20, was upregulated in the cancer tissue derived Tregs. Furthermore, STAT3 levels were significantly increased in these tumour‐derived Tregs. This study demonstrates that immune evasion mechanisms are operant in hepatocellular carcinoma through a transcriptional network of CCL20‐IL17‐IL6 cytokines that facilitate immune suppression‐mediated cancer cell elimination and metastasis.
Blends of Poly-( E-caprolactone ) and Polysaccharides in Tissue Engineering Applications

Bioartificial blends of poly-( -caprolactone) (PCL) with a polysaccharide (starch, S; dextran, D; or gellan, G) (PCL/S, PCL/D, PCL/G 90.9/9.1 wt ratio) were prepared by a solution -precipitation technique and widely characterized by differential scanning calorimetry analysis (DSC), Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), optical microscopy (OM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis (WAXD), and thermogravimetry (TGA). DSC showed that the polysaccharide reduced the crystallinity of PCL and had a nucleation effect, which was also confirmed by OM analysis. Hoffman -Weeks analysis was performed on PCL and blend samples allowing calculation of their equilibrium melting temperatures (Tm 0 ). WAXD showed that the crystalline unit cell type was the same for PCL and blends. FTIR-ATR did not evidence interactions between blend components. Thermal stability was affected by the type of polysaccharide. Microparticles ( <125 μm) were produced from blends by cryogenical milling and characterized by scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM). Selective laser sintering (SLS), a new rapid prototyping technology for scaffold fabrication, was applied to sinter blend microparticles according to a PC-designed two-dimensional geometry (strips and 2 × 2 mm2 square-meshed grids). The optimal experimental conditions for sintering were established and laser beam parameters (beam speed, BS, and power, P) were found for each blend composition. Morphology of sintered objects was analyzed by SEM and found to be dependent on the morphology of the sintered powders. Sintered samples were analyzed by chemical imaging (CI), FTIR-ATR, DSC, and contact angle analysis. No evidence of the occurrence of degradation phenomena was found by FTIR-ATR for sintered samples, whereas DSC parameters of PCL and blends showed changes which could be attributed to some molecular weight decrease of PCL during sintering. CI of sintered samples showed that the polysaccharide phase was homogeneously dispersed within the PCL matrix, with the only exception being the PCL/D blend. The contact angle analysis showed that all samples were hydrophilic. Fibroblasts were then seeded on scaffolds to evaluate the rate and the extent of cell adhesion and the effect of the polysaccharides (S, D, G) on the bioactivity of the PCL-based blends.
Estimating topical volume in social media streams

This paper tackles the problem of estimating the volume of social media posts (e.g., tweets) that pertain to a particular topic. This task differs from related filtering and event detection applications in that the filtered content isn't meant for direct human consumption, but rather we are primarily interested in estimating the cardinality of relevant posts. We present a simple yet effective technique for generating and curating keywords to create what we call "overlap filters", which can be applied to a stream of social media posts. Our approach leverages human labeling and thus a crucial element of the work involves minimizing the cost of human computation. On top of a "day zero" cold start algorithm, we describe a number of optimizations that take advantage of history to further reduce labeling costs. Experimental results show that our overlap filters produce accurate volume estimates at low costs, and our method is simple enough to deploy in practice.
Fractal characterization of complexity in temporal physiological signals

This review first gives an overview on the concept of fractal geometry with definitions and explanations of the most fundamental properties of fractal structures and processes like self-similarity, power law scaling relationship, scale invariance, scaling range and fractal dimensions. Having laid down the grounds of the basics in terminology and mathematical formalism, the authors systematically introduce the concept and methods of monofractal time series analysis. They argue that fractal time series analysis cannot be done in a conscious, reliable manner without having a model capable of capturing the essential features of physiological signals with regard to their fractal analysis. They advocate the use of a simple, yet adequate, dichotomous model of fractional Gaussian noise (fGn) and fractional Brownian motion (fBm). They demonstrate the importance of incorporating a step of signal classification according to the fGn/fBm model prior to fractal analysis by showing that missing out on signal class can result in completely meaningless fractal estimates. Limitation and precision of various fractal tools are thoroughly described and discussed using results of numerical experiments on ideal monofractal signals. Steps of a reliable fractal analysis are explained. Finally, the main applications of fractal time series analysis in biomedical research are reviewed and critically evaluated.
Automated Lip-Sync for 3D-Character Animation

A central task for animating computer generated characters is the synchronization of lip movements and speech signal. For real time synchronization high technical effort, which involves a face tracking system or data gloves, is needed to drive the expressions of the character. If the speech signal is already given, off-line synchronization is possible but the animator is left with a time consuming manual process that often needs several passes of fine tuning. In this paper we present an automated technique for creating the lip movements of a computer-generated character from a given speech signal by using a neural net. The net is trained by a set of pre-produced animations.
Degenerative mitral valve regurgitation: best practice revolution

Degenerative mitral valve disease often leads to leaflet prolapse due to chordal elongation or rupture, and resulting in mitral valve regurgitation. Guideline referral for surgical intervention centres primarily on symptoms and ventricular dysfunction. The recommended treatment for degenerative mitral valve disease is mitral valve reconstruction, as opposed to valve replacement with a bioprosthetic or mechanical valve, because valve repair is associated with improved event free survival. Recent studies have documented a significant number of patients are not referred in a timely fashion according to established guidelines, and when they are subjected to surgery, an alarming number of patients continue to undergo mitral valve replacement. The debate around appropriate timing of intervention for asymptomatic severe mitral valve regurgitation has put additional emphasis on targeted surgeon referral and the need to ensure a very high rate of mitral valve repair, particularly in the non-elderly population. Current clinical practice remains suboptimal for many patients, and this review explores the need for a ‘best practice revolution’ in the field of degenerative mitral valve regurgitation.
Multimodal location estimation

In this article we define a multimedia content analysis problem, which we call multimodal location estimation: Given a video/image/audio file, the task is to determine where it was recorded. A single indication, such as a unique landmark, might already pinpoint a location precisely. In most cases, however, a combination of evidence from the visual and the acoustic domain will only narrow down the set of possible answers. Therefore, approaches to tackle this task should be inherently multimedia. While the task is hard, in fact sometimes unsolvable, training data can be leveraged from the Internet in large amounts. Moreover, even partially successful automatic estimation of location opens up new possibilities in video content matching, archiving, and organization. It could revolutionize law enforcement and computer-aided intelligence agency work, especially since both semi-automatic and fully automatic approaches would be possible. In this article, we describe our idea of growing multimodal location estimation as a research field in the multimedia community. Based on examples and scenarios, we propose a multimedia approach to leverage cues from the visual and the acoustic portions of a video as well as from given metadata. We also describe experiments to estimate the amount of available training data that could potentially be used as publicly available infrastructure for research in this field. Finally, we present an initial set of results based on acoustic and visual cues and discuss the massive challenges involved and some possible paths to solutions.
Neuronal Stress and Injury Caused by HIV-1, cART and Drug Abuse: Converging Contributions to HAND

Multiple mechanisms appear to contribute to neuronal stress and injury underlying HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), which occur despite the successful introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Evidence is accumulating that components of cART can itself be neurotoxic upon long-term exposure. In addition, abuse of psychostimulants, such as methamphetamine (METH), seems to compromise antiretroviral therapy and aggravate HAND. However, the combined effect of virus and recreational and therapeutic drugs on the brain is still incompletely understood. However, several lines of evidence suggest a shared critical role of oxidative stress, compromised neuronal energy homeostasis and autophagy in promotion and prevention of neuronal dysfunction associated with HIV-1 infection, cART and psychostimulant use. In this review, we present a synopsis of recent work related to neuronal stress and injury induced by HIV infection, antiretrovirals (ARVs) and the highly addictive psychostimulant METH.
Bone Marrow–Derived Cell-Specific Chemokine (C-C Motif) Receptor-2 Expression is Required for Arteriolar Remodeling

Objective—Bone marrow-derived cells (BMCs) and inflammatory chemokine receptors regulate arteriogenesis and angiogenesis. Here, we tested whether arteriolar remodeling in response to an inflammatory stimulus is dependent on BMC-specific chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2 (CCR2) expression and whether this response involves BMC transdifferentiation into smooth muscle. Methods and Results—Dorsal skinfold window chambers were implanted into C57Bl/6 wild-type (WT) mice, as well as the following bone marrow chimeras (donor-host): WT-WT, CCR2−/−-WT, WT-CCR2−/−, and EGFP+-WT. One day after implantation, tissue MCP-1 levels rose from “undetectable” to 463pg/mg, and the number of EGFP+ cells increased more than 4-fold, indicating marked inflammation. A 66% (28 &mgr;m) increase in maximum arteriolar diameter was observed over 7 days in WT-WT mice. This arteriolar remodeling response was completely abolished in CCR2−/−-WT mice but largely rescued in WT-CCR2−/− mice. EGFP+ BMCs were numerous throughout the tissue, but we found no evidence that EGFP+ BMCs transdifferentiate into smooth muscle, based on examination of >800 arterioles and venules. Conclusions—BMC-specific CCR2 expression is required for injury/inflammation-associated arteriolar remodeling, but this response is not characterized by the differentiation of BMCs into smooth muscle.