Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal planning of virtual mobile networks

The explosive growth of smartphones and other portable devices, along with new traffic types generated by M2M applications, are creating huge volumes of mobile data traffic and signaling overhead, therefore requiring a radical change to the current mobile network architecture. This has promoted new virtualization paradigms, which combine diverse packet core services, and provide network functions implemented in software, rather than in dedicated hardware appliances, in order to scale capacity and introduce new services in a fast and cost-effective way. In this paper1 we study the optimization and resource allocation problems taking into account the deployment of virtualization structures. Our aim is to develop a theoretical framework of resource orchestration for mobile access networks, deriving the fundamental performance limits as well as the tradeoffs among the key system parameters. We therefore study optimal, time-varying placement and chaining of network functions. With respect to existing works, our optimization framework provides a much more precise system modeling, with, among others, a separation between control and data plane functions. We perform an extensive numerical analysis using both real traffic traces provided by a mobile operator (Vodafone UK) and real positions for radio access points for the UK area, and discuss the impact of network parameters on the system performance. Numerical results show that our proposed optimization framework permits to carefully model key aspects of network virtualization and service deployment/chaining in such scenarios, thus representing a very promising framework for the design of efficient and cost-effective mobile networks.
Intransitive competition is common across five major taxonomic groups and is driven by productivity, competitive rank and functional traits

Competition can be fully hierarchical or intransitive, and this degree of hierarchy is driven by multiple factors, including environmental conditions, the functional traits of the species involved or the topology of competition networks. Studies simultaneously analysing these drivers of competition hierarchy are rare. Additionally, organisms compete either directly or via interference competition for resources or space, within a local neighbourhood or across the habitat. Therefore, the drivers of competition could change accordingly and depend on the taxa studied. We performed the first multi‐taxon study on pairwise competition across major taxonomic groups, including experiments with vascular plants, mosses, saprobic fungi, aquatic protists and soil bacteria. We evaluated how general is competition intransitivity from the pairwise competition matrix including all species and also for each possible three‐species combination (triplets). We then examined which species were likely to engage in competitive loops and the effects of environmental conditions, competitive rank and functional traits on intransitive competition. We found some degree of competition intransitivity in all taxa studied, with 38% to 5% of triplets being intransitive. Variance in competitive rank between species and more fertile conditions strongly reduced intransitivity, with triplets composed of species differing widely in their competitive ranks much less likely to be intransitive. Including functional traits of the species involved more than doubled the variation explained compared to models including competitive rank only. Both trait means and variance within triplets affected the odds of them being intransitive. However, the traits responsible and the direction of trait effects varied widely between taxa, suggesting that traits can have a wide variety of effects on competition. Synthesis. We evaluated the drivers of competition across multiple taxa and showed that productivity and competitive rank are fundamental drivers of intransitivity. We also showed that not only the functional traits of each species, but also those of the accompanying species, determine competition intransitivity. Intransitive competition is common across multiple taxa but can dampen under fertile conditions or for those species with large variance in their competitive abilities. This provides a first step towards predicting the prevalence of intransitive competition in natural communities.
A Suggested Theoretical Framework for Software Project Success

Current literature on software project management indicates that the majority of software projects either are considered a failure or challenged. These projects are characterized by exceeding budget, exceeding time, and failing to meet customer expectations. The fact that most projects fail highlights the need for research regarding the factors that lead to software project success or failure. This paper presents a theoretical framework for software project success. Based on deep analysis of current literature on software success factors, a theoretical framework is formulating. The suggested framework shows factors that have to be carefully considered in order to achieve software project success. The factors included in the framework are dividing into four categories: organizational factors, technical factors, people factors, and culture factors. The suggested framework is new in the sense that it includes many factors that are not founding together in any of the previous similar frameworks.
Dynamic routing of locally restorable bandwidth guaranteed tunnels using aggregated link usage information

We consider a new QoS routing problem which requires the on-line routing of a bandwidth guaranteed path along with the setting up of bypass paths for every link or node traversed by the primary active path. The bypass paths are used for fast local restoration where upon a link or node failure, the first upstream node re-establishes path continuity (with bandwidth guarantees) by switching to the bypass path for the failed node or link, The routing objective is to minimize the bandwidth usage for each connection so as optimize use of network resources while protecting against single node or link failure. Bandwidth efficiency is achieved by exploiting the potential for inter-demand and intra-demand backup bandwidth sharing. We develop a new algorithm for this routing problem which only uses aggregated link usage information (total bandwidth consumed on each link by active paths, total bandwidth consumed on each link by backup paths, and the residual bandwidths) that is easily obtainable by proposed routing protocol extensions. We show that the algorithm performs well in terms of the number of rejected requests and the total bandwidth used, The main use of this algorithm is for MPLS network routing and for wavelength routing in optical networks with wavelength conversion.
Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Schistosoma mansoni Infections in Ethiopian Orthodox Church Students around Lake Tana, Northwest Ethiopia

Background Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and Schistosoma mansoni infections are the major neglected tropical diseases that result in serious consequences on health, education and nutrition in children in developing countries. The Ethiopian Orthodox church students, who are called Yekolotemari in Amharic, live in areas with poor sanitation and hygiene. Moreover, they are not included in the national STH control programs. Thus, STH and S. mansoni infections prevalence is unknown. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 384 students in June 2014 to determine STH and S. mansoni infections prevalence. Moreover, the knowledge of students about STH and S. mansoni was assessed. Data on knowledge and clinical symptoms were collected using structured questionnaires via face to face interview. Stool specimens were examined by formol-ether concentration method. Results The overall prevalence of intestinal helminths infections was 85.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 82.1–89%). STHs infections prevalence was 65.6% (95% CI: 60.7–70.2%). The prevalence of hookworm, Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura were 31.8% (95% CI: 27.3–36.6%), 29.4% (25–31%) and 3.1% (1.8–5.4%), respectively. On the other hand, S. mansoni prevalence was 14.3% (95% CI: 11.1–18.1%). Majority of students infected with S. mansoni had bloody stool with crud odds-ratio of 2.9 (95% CI: 1.5–5.5). Knowledge assessment showed that 50 (13%) and 18 (4.9%) of the respondents knew about transmission of STH and S. mansoni, respectively. Conclusions The prevalence of STH and S. mansoni infections were high thus de-worming program should include the students of Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Furthermore, provision and use of sanitary facilities, health education for students to create awareness of parasitic infections and improved personal hygiene should be in place.
Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defect Preserves Right Ventricular Function

Aim: To investigate the intermediate and short-term effects of transcatheter secundumatrial septal defect (ASD) closure on cardiac remodeling in children and adult patients. Methods: 50 patients with secundum ASD referred for possible transcatheter device closure were subjected to history taking; proper physical examination; electrocardiographic assessment and transthoracic echocardiographic examination and were evaluated before the ASD closure, 1 day, 3m and 6m after closure.
A Temporal Tree Decomposition for Generating Temporal Graphs

Discovering the underlying structures present in large real world graphs is a fundamental scientific problem. Recent work at the intersection of formal language theory and graph theory has found that a Hyperedge Replacement Grammar (HRG) can be extracted from a tree decomposition of any graph. This HRG can be used to generate new graphs that share properties that are similar to the original graph. Because the extracted HRG is directly dependent on the shape and contents of the of tree decomposition, it is unlikely that informative graph-processes are actually being captured with the extraction algorithm. To address this problem, the current work presents a new extraction algorithm called temporal HRG (tHRG) that learns HRG production rules from a temporal tree decomposition of the graph. We observe problems with the assumptions that are made in a temporal HRG model. In experiments on large real world networks, we show and provide reasoning as to why tHRG does not perform as well as HRG and other graph generators.
“Soft“ acoustic event detectors for limited resources platforms

Event detection algorithms cover enormous relevance when their execution environment has reduced capabilities as the CPU computing power, memory budget and overall energy capacity. It is the case for embedded wireless sensor nodes or motes that promise an actual and massive ubiquity on future real world applications. We have implemented a "soft" acoustic event detector of human activities, particularly speech signal. The algorithm has been adapted from the wireless multi-channel IEEE 802.11 QoS VoIP field. The events are detected on the base of the change of rate of the sum of the current input signal energy average plus the signal energy standard deviation values. The detector performance is presented in terms of false and positive detections, for three input signals with different SNR levels.
Clinical Pharmacology of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”): The Influence of Gender and Genetics (CYP2D6, COMT, 5-HTT)

The synthetic psychostimulant MDMA (±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ecstasy) acts as an indirect serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine agonist and as a mechanism-based inhibitor of the cytochrome P-450 2D6 (CYP2D6). It has been suggested that women are more sensitive to MDMA effects than men but no clinical experimental studies have satisfactorily evaluated the factors contributing to such observations. There are no studies evaluating the influence of genetic polymorphism on the pharmacokinetics (CYP2D6; catechol-O-methyltransferase, COMT) and pharmacological effects of MDMA (serotonin transporter, 5-HTT; COMT). This clinical study was designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and physiological and subjective effects of MDMA considering gender and the genetic polymorphisms of CYP2D6, COMT, and 5-HTT. A total of 27 (12 women) healthy, recreational users of ecstasy were included (all extensive metabolizers for CYP2D6). A single oral weight-adjusted dose of MDMA was administered (1.4 mg/kg, range 75–100 mg) which was similar to recreational doses. None of the women were taking oral contraceptives and the experimental session was performed during the early follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. Principal findings show that subjects reached similar MDMA plasma concentrations, and experienced similar positive effects, irrespective of gender or CYP2D6 (not taking into consideration poor or ultra-rapid metabolizers) or COMT genotypes. However, HMMA plasma concentrations were linked to CYP2D6 genotype (higher with two functional alleles). Female subjects displayed more intense physiological (heart rate, and oral temperature) and negative effects (dizziness, sedation, depression, and psychotic symptoms). Genotypes of COMT val158met or 5-HTTLPR with high functionality (val/val or l/*) determined greater cardiovascular effects, and with low functionality (met/* or s/s) negative subjective effects (dizziness, anxiety, sedation). In conclusion, the contribution of MDMA pharmacokinetics following 1.4 mg/kg MDMA to the gender differences observed in drug effects appears to be negligible or even null. In contrast, 5-HTTLPR and COMT val158met genotypes play a major role. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01447472
Improved Parallel Image Processing Algorithms by CUDA in GPU Environment

Integral histogram enables constant time histogram computation of an area. Mark Harris proposed a parallel prefix sum algorithm in CUDA GPGPU for integral histogram initialization. Because of the restricted number of threads in a block in CUDA, Harris' algorithm divides a large image into multiple blocks. Such division increases the number of global memory access and becomes a major reason of performance degradation. In this paper we propose an allocation scheme that maps multiple pixels into a thread when the integral histogram is initialized for a large image. The proposed allocation scheme fully utilizes shared memory and reduces the number of accesses to global memory. Experimental results shows that the execution time of the proposed algorithm is 94.7% ~ 99.8% compared to that of Harris' algorithm.
Calmodulin Regulates Transglutaminase 2 Cross-Linking of Huntingtin

Striatal and cortical intranuclear inclusions and cytoplasmic aggregates of mutant huntingtin are prominent neuropathological hallmarks of Huntington's disease (HD). We demonstrated previously that transglutaminase 2 cross-links mutant huntingtin in cells in culture and demonstrated the presence of transglutaminase-catalyzed cross-links in the HD cortex that colocalize with transglutaminase 2 and huntingtin. Because calmodulin regulates transglutaminase activity in erythrocytes, platelets, and the gizzard, we hypothesized that calmodulin increases cross-linking of huntingtin in the HD brain. We found that calmodulin colocalizes at the confocal level with transglutaminase 2 and with huntingtin in HD intranuclear inclusions. Calmodulin coimmunoprecipitates with transglutaminase 2 and huntingtin in cells transfected with myc-tagged N-terminal huntingtin fragments containing 148 polyglutamine repeats (htt-N63-148Q-myc) and transglutaminase 2 but not in cells transfected with myc-tagged N-terminal huntingtin fragments containing 18 polyglutamine repeats. Our previous studies demonstrated that transfection with both htt-N63-148Q-myc and transglutaminase 2 resulted in cross-linking of mutant huntingtin protein fragments and the formation of insoluble high-molecular-weight aggregates of huntingtin protein fragments. Transfection with transglutaminase 2 and htt-N63-148Q-myc followed by treatment of cells with N-(6-aminohexyl)-1-naphthalenesulfonamide, a calmodulin inhibitor, resulted in a decrease in cross-linked huntingtin. Inhibiting the interaction of calmodulin with transglutaminase and huntingtin protein could decrease cross-linking and diminish huntingtin aggregate formation in the HD brain.
Multi-spectral facial biometrics in access control

This paper demonstrates how facial biometrics, acquired using multi-spectral sensors, such as RGB, depth, and infrared, assist the data accumulation in the process of authorizing users of automated and semi-automated access systems. This data serves the purposes of person authentication, as well as facial temperature estimation. We utilize depth data taken using an inexpensive RGB-D sensor to find the head pose of a subject. This allows the selection of video frames containing a frontal-view head pose for face recognition and face temperature reading. Usage of the frontal-view frames improves the efficiency of face recognition while the corresponding synchronized IR video frames allow for more efficient temperature estimation for facial regions of interest.
An Assistive Technology System that Provides Personalized Dressing Support for People Living with Dementia: Capability Study

Background Individuals living with advancing stages of dementia (persons with dementia, PWDs) or other cognitive disorders do not have the luxury of remembering how to perform basic day-to-day activities, which in turn makes them increasingly dependent on the assistance of caregivers. Dressing is one of the most common and stressful activities provided by caregivers because of its complexity and privacy challenges posed during the process. Objective In preparation for in-home trials with PWDs, the aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a prototype intelligent system, the DRESS prototype, to assess its ability to provide automated assistance with dressing that can afford independence and privacy to individual PWDs and potentially provide additional freedom to their caregivers (family members and professionals). Methods This laboratory study evaluated the DRESS prototype’s capacity to detect dressing events. These events were engaged in by 11 healthy participants simulating common correct and incorrect dressing scenarios. The events ranged from donning a shirt and pants inside out or backwards to partial dressing—typical issues that challenge a PWD and their caregivers. Results A set of expected detections for correct dressing was prepared via video analysis of all participants’ dressing behaviors. In the initial phases of donning either shirts or pants, the DRESS prototype missed only 4 out of 388 expected detections. The prototype’s ability to recognize other missing detections varied across conditions. There were also some unexpected detections such as detection of the inside of a shirt as it was being put on. Throughout the study, detection of dressing events was adversely affected by the relatively smaller effective size of the markers at greater distances. Although the DRESS prototype incorrectly identified 10 of 22 cases for shirts, the prototype preformed significantly better for pants, incorrectly identifying only 5 of 22 cases. Further analyses identified opportunities to improve the DRESS prototype’s reliability, including increasing the size of markers, minimizing garment folding or occlusions, and optimal positioning of participants with respect to the DRESS prototype. Conclusions This study demonstrates the ability to detect clothing orientation and position and infer current state of dressing using a combination of sensors, intelligent software, and barcode tracking. With improvements identified by this study, the DRESS prototype has the potential to provide a viable option to provide automated dressing support to assist PWDs in maintaining their independence and privacy, while potentially providing their caregivers with the much-needed respite.
Dietary galacto-oligosaccharides and calcium: effects on energy intake, fat-pad weight and satiety-related, gastrointestinal hormones in rats

Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) are carbohydrates that are fermented by colonic microbiota. The present study examined effects of a 3-week dietary enrichment with 6 % (w/w) GOS on parameters of energy balance in forty-three male Wistar rats. GOS was tested with two doses of calcium phosphate (30 and 100 mmol/kg), known to differently affect colonic fermentation. After 17 d, isoenergetic test meals were presented and plasma responses of ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) were measured. On day 21 (study termination) epididymal fat pads and caecum were weighed. Additionally, gastrointestinal mucosal samples and proximal colonic contents were analysed for gene expression (ghrelin, proglucagon and PYY) and fermentation metabolites (SCFA and lactate), respectively. GOS reduced energy intake most prominently during the first week, without provoking compensatory overeating later on (average intake reduction: 14 %). The GOS-fed rats showed increased caecal and reduced fat-pad weight and increased gene expression of the satiety-related peptides, PYY (1·7-fold) and proglucagon (3·5-fold). Pre-meal baseline and post-meal plasma levels of PYY, but not of ghrelin or GLP-1, were higher in GOS-fed rats than in control rats. Ca enrichment resulted in higher energy intake (average 4·5 %). GOS diets increased lactic acid levels and slightly reduced butyric acid in proximal colonic contents. Ca abolished the GOS-related elevation of lactic acid, while increasing propionic acid levels, but did not inhibit GOS-related effects on energy intake, fat-pad weight or gene expression. These results indicate that dietary GOS stimulate a number of physiological mechanisms that can reduce energy intake, regardless of the calcium phosphate content of the diet.
A Practical Approach for Intraoperative Contextual In-Situ Visualization

The composition of real and virtual entities has a major contribution to the usability and acceptance of an Augmented Reality (AR) Scene. The composition method highly depends on the accessibility of information in order to allow the user to intuitively perceive relative and absolute distances of objects within the AR scene. This paper proposes a novel, ﬂexible and practical approach of creating a context preserving view onto the operation site. It exclusively employs information from video data of video see-through AR systems to compute context information.
Implementation of SMS4 Block Cipher on FPGA

This paper describes two encryption designs of Chinese wireless local area network block cipher standard - SMS4 algorithm. Then these two designs are implemented on Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA devices. The first (pipelined) design is optimized in order to reduce time delay and the encryption core has a throughput of 24 Gb/s. The second (folded) design is optimized in order to minimize area coverage and the encryption core only needs 380 CLB slices with throughput of 740 Mb/s. There are no known hardware implementations of an encryption SMS4 designs.
Multiple Order Dual-Band Active Ring Filters with Composite Right/Left-Handed Cells

In this paper, a novel dual-band active filter topology is presented. The non-linear phase response of a composite right/left-handed cell is used to achieve the desired dual-band performance. Additionally, the proposed structure based on coupled ring resonators yields a very compact solution in which high-order implementations can be easily obtained by cascading multiple rings. The theoretical principles of this type of filters are analyzed in detail. Finally, three prototypes based on first-, second- and third-order structures validate the feasibility of this type of filters. Good agreement between simulations and measurements has been achieved.