Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlling cache utilization of HPC applications

This paper discusses the use of software cache partitioning techniques to study and improve cache behavior of HPC applications. Most existing studies use this partitioning to solve quality of service issues, like fair distribution of a shared cache among running processes. We believe that, in the HPC context of a single application being studied/optimized on the system, with a single thread per core, cache partitioning can be used in new and interesting ways. First, we propose an implementation of software cache partitioning using the well known page coloring technique. This implementation differs from existing ones by giving control of the partitioning to the application programmer. Developed on the most popular OS in HPC (Linux), this cache control scheme has low overhead both in memory and CPU while being simple to use. Second, we illustrate how this user-controlled cache partitioning can lead to efficient measurements of cache behavior of a parallel scientific visualization application. While current tools require expensive binary instrumentation of an application to obtain its working sets, our method only needs a few unmodified runs on the target platform. Finally, we discuss the use of our scheme to optimize memory intensive applications by isolating each of their critical data structures into dedicated cache partitions. This isolation allows the analysis of each structure cache requirements and leads to new and significant optimization strategies. To the best of our knowledge, no other existing tool enables such tuning of HPC applications.
A study on the impact of spatial frames of reference on human performance in virtual reality user interfaces

The design of virtual reality user interfaces (VRUI) is still an open field of research and development. One category of VRUI is the 3D floating menus that can be manipulated by users in free space. These menus can contain various controls such as buttons, sliders, and text. This article presents an experimental study that aims at testing the impact of five spatial frames of reference on human performance in VRUI. 15 subjects participated in the study. Wearing a head-mounted display and tracking hardware, they were asked to move a slider on a floating menu in a 3D virtual space. Main results show that the frame of reference has a significant impact on the task execution time and on the user preference.
A biologically inspired, flapping-wing, hybrid aerial-aquatic microrobot

An insect-scale robot is capable of flying, swimming, impulsively taking off from the water surface, and landing. From millimeter-scale insects to meter-scale vertebrates, several animal species exhibit multimodal locomotive capabilities in aerial and aquatic environments. To develop robots capable of hybrid aerial and aquatic locomotion, we require versatile propulsive strategies that reconcile the different physical constraints of airborne and aquatic environments. Furthermore, transitioning between aerial and aquatic environments poses substantial challenges at the scale of microrobots, where interfacial surface tension can be substantial relative to the weight and forces produced by the animal/robot. We report the design and operation of an insect-scale robot capable of flying, swimming, and transitioning between air and water. This 175-milligram robot uses a multimodal flapping strategy to efficiently locomote in both fluids. Once the robot swims to the water surface, lightweight electrolytic plates produce oxyhydrogen from the surrounding water that is collected by a buoyancy chamber. Increased buoyancy force from this electrochemical reaction gradually pushes the wings out of the water while the robot maintains upright stability by exploiting surface tension. A sparker ignites the oxyhydrogen, and the robot impulsively takes off from the water surface. This work analyzes the dynamics of flapping locomotion in an aquatic environment, identifies the challenges and benefits of surface tension effects on microrobots, and further develops a suite of new mesoscale devices that culminate in a hybrid, aerial-aquatic microrobot.
Myosin light chain phosphorylation enhances contraction of heart muscle via structural changes in both thick and thin filaments

Significance Contraction of heart muscle is triggered by calcium binding to the actin-containing thin filaments but modulated by structural changes in the myosin-containing thick filaments. We showed that phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain generates a structural signal that is transmitted between myosin molecules in the thick filament and from the thick to the thin filaments, altering their calcium sensitivity. A closely related dual-filament signaling pathway underlies the enhanced contractility of heart muscle when it is stretched. These coordinated and cooperative changes in thick and thin filament structure are an essential component of contractile regulation in the healthy heart, and their impairment is likely to underlie the functional effects of mutations in thick filament proteins in heart disease. Contraction of heart muscle is triggered by calcium binding to the actin-containing thin filaments but modulated by structural changes in the myosin-containing thick filaments. We used phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain (cRLC) by the cardiac isoform of its specific kinase to elucidate mechanisms of thick filament-mediated contractile regulation in demembranated trabeculae from the rat right ventricle. cRLC phosphorylation enhanced active force and its calcium sensitivity and altered thick filament structure as reported by bifunctional rhodamine probes on the cRLC: the myosin head domains became more perpendicular to the filament axis. The effects of cRLC phosphorylation on thick filament structure and its calcium sensitivity were mimicked by increasing sarcomere length or by deleting the N terminus of the cRLC. Changes in thick filament structure were highly cooperative with respect to either calcium concentration or extent of cRLC phosphorylation. Probes on unphosphorylated myosin heads reported similar structural changes when neighboring heads were phosphorylated, directly demonstrating signaling between myosin heads. Moreover probes on troponin showed that calcium sensitization by cRLC phosphorylation is mediated by the thin filament, revealing a signaling pathway between thick and thin filaments that is still present when active force is blocked by Blebbistatin. These results show that coordinated and cooperative structural changes in the thick and thin filaments are fundamental to the physiological regulation of contractility in the heart. This integrated dual-filament concept of contractile regulation may aid understanding of functional effects of mutations in the protein components of both filaments associated with heart disease.
Batch Queues with Choice of Arrivals: Equilibrium Analysis and Experimental Study

We study both theoretically and experimentally the decisions players make in two queueing games with batch service. In both games, players are asked to independently decide when to join a discrete-time queue to receive service, or they may simply choose not to join it at all. Equilibrium solutions in pure and mixed strategies are constructed for two games where balking is prohibited and where it is allowed. They are then tested experimentally in a study that varies the game type (balking vs. no balking) and information structure (private vs. public information) in a 2X2 between-subject design. With repeated iterations of the stage game, all four experimental conditions result in aggregate, but not individual, behavior approaching mixed-strategy equilibrium play.
Evidence that prolyl endopeptidase participates in the processing of brain angiotensin.

In order to understand angiotensin metabolism in the canine brain, we determined the molecular forms of angiotensin peptides present in the hypothalamus of the dog and carried out measurements of the metabolism of 125I-angiotensin I in homogenates of that tissue. Angiotensin peptides were extracted from canine hypothalamic tissue and quantified by specific radioimmunoassays combined with high-performance liquid chromatography. The major angiotensin peptides detected were angiotensin-(2-7) (391.2 +/- 16.8 pg/g tissue) and angiotensin-(3-7) (864.8 +/- 128.1 pg/g). Angiotensin II immunoreactivity was mainly composed of angiotensin-(3-8) (117.5 +/- 64 pg/g) and trace amounts of angiotensin II and angiotensin III. Angiotensin I immunoreactivity was composed of angiotensin I (52.3 +/- 5.8 pg/g). In separate experiments, addition of 125I-angiotensin I into supernatants (18,000 g for 2 min) of canine hypothalamic homogenates resulted in the accumulation of 125I-angiotensin-(1-7) as the major peptide product (14% of the total 125I-radioactivity) at 2 min. Incubation of the homogenate supernatants with enalaprilat (1 mumol/l), phosphoramidon (10 mumol/l), or ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (1 mmol/l) did not inhibit the production of 125I-angiotensin-(1-7). In contrast, addition of Z-Pro-Prolinal (1 mumol/l), a specific inhibitor of prolyl endopeptidase, prevented the generation of 125I-angiotensin-(1-7) from 125I-angiotensin I by 47.0 +/- 8.0% (n = 6). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
L-Sox5, Sox6 and Sox9 control essential steps of the chondrocyte differentiation pathway.

OBJECTIVE This work was carried out to identify transcription factors controlling the differentiation of mesenchymal cells into chondrocytes. DESIGN We delineated a cartilage-specific enhancer in the collagen type 2 gene (Col2a1) and identified transcription factors responsible for the activity of this enhancer in chondrocytes. We then analyzed the ability of these transcription factors to activate specific genes of the chondrocyte differentiation program and control cartilage formation in vivo. RESULTS A 48-bp sequence in the first intron of Col2a1 drove gene expression specifically in cartilage in transgenic mouse embryos. The transcription factors L-Sox5, Sox6, and Sox9 bound and cooperatively activated this enhancer in vitro. They belong to the Sry-related family of HMG box DNA-binding proteins, which includes many members implicated in cell fate determination in various lineages. L-Sox5, Sox6, and Sox9 were coexpressed in all precartilaginous condensations in mouse embryos and continued to be expressed in chondrocytes until the cells underwent final hypertrophy. Whereas L-Sox5 and Sox6 are highly homologous proteins, they are totally different from Sox9 outside the HMG box domain. The three proteins cooperatively activated the Col2a1- and aggrecan genes in cultured cells. Heterozygous mutations in SOX9 in humans lead to campomelic dysplasia, a severe and generalized skeletal malformation syndrome. Embryonic cells with a homozygous Sox9 mutation were unable to form cartilage in vivo and activate essential chondrocyte marker genes. Preliminary data indicated that the mutation of Sox5 and Sox6 in the mouse led to severe skeletal malformations. CONCLUSIONS L-Sox5, Sox6, and Sox9 play essential roles in chondrocyte differentiation and, thereby, in cartilage formation. Their discovery will help to understand further the molecular mechanisms controlling chondrogenesis in vivo, uncover genetic mechanisms underlying cartilage diseases, and develop novel strategies for cartilage repair.
Quality evaluation of cardiac decision support systems using ISO 25010 standard

Clinical decision support system (CDSS) is a technology designed to assist physicians and medical stuff with clinical decision-making tasks. It aims to better the safety and quality of patient care, improve patient care treatments and outcomes, decrease the dependence on memory, lower error rates, and decrease response time. CDSS is not intended to replace clinician judgment, but it supports users with the detection and prevention of possible risks to patient safety and encouraging the appropriate usage of evidence-based practice and guidelines. The benefits of the CDSSs contribute in increasing the number of e-health applications in recent years. Cardiology healthcare institutions are adopting such systems in their departments in order to assist cardiologists when making their decisions. This study proposes a set of cardiac DSS requirements and measures the influence of these requirements on software product quality using the ISO/IEC 25010 software quality model. A checklist of cardiac DSS requirements is also presented. As a result, Functional suitability, Reliability, Performance efficiency and Operability external characteristics were identified as the most influenced by cardiac DSS requirements.
Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of Arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change

Global environmental change, related to climate change and the deposition of airborne N‐containing contaminants, has already resulted in shifts in plant community composition among plant functional types in Arctic and temperate alpine regions. In this paper, we review how key ecosystem processes will be altered by these transformations, the complex biological cascades and feedbacks that might result, and some of the potential broader consequences for the earth system. Firstly, we consider how patterns of growth and allocation, and nutrient uptake, will be altered by the shifts in plant dominance. The ways in which these changes may disproportionately affect the consumer communities, and rates of decomposition, are then discussed. We show that the occurrence of a broad spectrum of plant growth forms in these regions (from cryptogams to deciduous and evergreen dwarf shrubs, graminoids and forbs), together with hypothesized low functional redundancy, will mean that shifts in plant dominance result in a complex series of biotic cascades, couplings and feedbacks which are supplemental to the direct responses of ecosystem components to the primary global change drivers. The nature of these complex interactions is highlighted using the example of the climate‐driven increase in shrub cover in low‐Arctic tundra, and the contrasting transformations in plant functional composition in mid‐latitude alpine systems. Finally, the potential effects of the transformations on ecosystem properties and processes that link with the earth system are reviewed. We conclude that the effects of global change on these ecosystems, and potential climate‐change feedbacks, cannot be predicted from simple empirical relationships between processes and driving variables. Rather, the effects of changes in species distributions and dominances on key ecosystem processes and properties must also be considered, based upon best estimates of the trajectories of key transformations, their magnitude and rates of change.
A ug 2 00 1 Local Primitive Causality and the Common Cause Principle in Quantum Field Theory

If {A(V)} is a net of local von Neumann algebras satisfying standard axioms of algebraic relativistic quantum field theory and V 1 and V 2 are spacelike separated spacetime regions, then the system (A(V 1), A(V 2), φ) is said to satisfy the Weak Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle iff for every pair of projections A ∈ A(V 1), B ∈ A(V 2) correlated in the normal state φ there exists a projection C belonging to a von Neumann algebra associated with a spacetime region V contained in the union of the backward light cones of V 1 and V 2 and disjoint from both V 1 and V 2 , a projection having the properties of a Reichenbachian common cause of the correlation between A and B. It is shown that if the net has the local primitive causality property then every local system (A(V 1), A(V 2), φ) with a locally normal and locally faithful state φ and open bounded V 1 and V 2 satisfies the Weak Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle.
Fellows ’ Forum: Hip Fractures in End‐Stage Renal Disease Patients: IncidenceRisk Factorsand Prevention

Hip fractures are an important problem for end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) patients treated with dialysis. The incidence of hip fractures in the dialysis population is approximately four times that of the general population. Even more concerning is the associated 1 year mortalitywhich is twice that of other dialysis patients. Management of this problem is complicated by the heterogeneous nature of renal osteodystrophy and the inadequate methods of diagnosis currently available. Fall prevention has been shown to reduce the incidence of hip fracture and associated decline in functional ability in the general population. Because falls occur frequently in the dialysis populationsimple fall prevention may be one important way of protecting dialysis patients from the morbidity and mortality of hip fracture.
Silent citizenship among Asian Americans and Latinos: opting out or left out?

In his classic study, Who Governs? , Robert Dahl interpreted the patterns of political assimilation of ‘white ethnic’ immigrants and their children during the mid-twentieth century as a hopeful sign of the potential of democratic pluralism in the USA. While acknowledging that immigrant groups faced discrimination and structural barriers that might lead them to be silent, Dahl predicted that social mobility and assimilation would eventually erase these deficits in political participation among immigrants. Building from Dahl's analysis, we investigate the extent to which pluralism in the USA can and does work the same way for immigrants who are also racial minorities. We highlight factors that can lead these groups to become silent citizens, including lack of legal status, lower levels of political mobilization by institutions, and discrimination as structural impediments to minority participation. Our findings suggest that both resources as well as structural impediments structure the political behavior of Asian Americans and Latinos, determining whether they are vocal citizens or silent citizens.
Investigation of the process for glass interposer

Through glass via (TGV) interposer fabrication processes are critical techniques in 3D-IC integration, providing the short interconnection among different stacked chips and substrate. Nowadays, silicon is a mature material in semiconductor technology, but glass, a dielectric material, provides an attractive option due to its intrinsic characteristics for the advantages of electrical isolation, better RF performance, flexibility with CTE and most importantly low cost solution. In this investigation, the glass interposer by using TSV industry equipment and tooling was evaluated and developed and there are many challenges for processing. For process, the major differences between Glass and Si interposer are method for via formation and isolation. The test vehicle for Glass interposer is successfully processed. Glass material is composed with SiOx, it is good isolation for electrical current. The polymer-based PBO is used for passivation. For structure of glass interposer, there is one RDL on the front-side and backside, respectively. The other structure is 2 RDL on the front-side and one RDL one the backside. The CD of through glass via is 30 μm, it is formed by Corning Co. Cu overburden and Ti barrier are removed by wet etching process. For top RDL (line-width = 20μm), Cu plating process with seed layer (Ti/Cu) wet-etching process is applied. The PBO material is used for passivation, the process temperature is blow 200°C. Top UBM (15μm in diameter; 4μm/5μm-thick Cu/Sn) is formed with a top passivation opening (15μm). The structure is analyzed and demonstrated by SEM analysis. All the results indicate that the glass interposer with polymer passivation can be preceded and the cost for process is cheaper than Si interposer.
Health effects of breast feeding for mothers: a critical review

Abstract Lactation results in a number of physiological adaptations which exert direct effects on maternal health, some of which may confer both short and long term advantages for breast feeding mothers. Breast feeding in the early postpartum period promotes a more rapid return of the uterus to its prepregnant state through the actions of oxytocin. Breast feeding may also lead to a more rapid return to prepregnancy weight. Among studies that had good data on duration and intensity of lactation, the majority show a significant association between lactation and weight loss. However, there is no evidence that lactation prevents obesity. Lactation also affects glucose and lipid metabolism. The long term effects of these adaptations are unknown but may have implications for preventing subsequent development of diabetes and heart disease. Lactation delays the return of ovulation and significantly reduces fertility during the period of lactational amenorrhoea. This process is linked with feeding patterns and may therefore be affected by practices such as scheduled feedings and the timing of introduction of complementary foods. While the evidence from epidemiologic studies is mixed, several large studies have shown that extended lactation is associated with reduced risk of premenopausal breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers. Although bone mineralization declines during lactation, repletion takes place after weaning. As a result, breast feeding does not appear to cause long term depletion of bone nor does it increase risk of osteoporosis. Many of the physiological effects of lactation are dependent on the stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and milk removal and thus may vary with infant feeding practices. Well controlled studies are needed that include detailed information regarding infant feeding practices in addition to the total duration of any breast feeding. Future feeding recommendations should reflect careful consideration of how such practices affect both infant and maternal health.
EMERGENCE OF INTRAVERBAL ANTONYMS IN CHILDREN WITH PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER

In the type of intraverbal that consists of saying the opposite of a word, two intraverbals are related to one another because the response form of each intraverbal functions as part of a discriminative stimulus for the other (e.g., “cold” in response to “name the opposite of hot,” and vice versa). Moreover, the contextual cue “Name the opposite of —” is the same in the two intraverbals. The purpose of the present research was to explore a procedure designed to promote emergence of intraverbals of this type. Two children with pervasive developmental disorder learned pairs of intraverbals. Thereafter, they were tested for emergence of intraverbals with reversed stimulus-response functions. Results indicate that, although the participants did not initially show emergence of intraverbals with reversed stimulus-response functions, repeated cycles of probing and teaching facilitated emergence of these relations.
Design of Distributed Space-Time Block Code for Two-Relay System over Frequency Selective Fading Channels

This paper proposes the distributed space-time block code (D-STBC) over frequency selective fading channel that achieves both spatial diversity gain and low decoding complexity with decoupling property in amplify-and-forward (AF) relay networks. These two goals are simultaneously achieved by our proposed code design, where the source permutates and conjugates the transmitted data before sending to the second relay. The diversity gain is investigated by analyzing the pairwise error probability (PEP) of the proposed scheme. In the analysis, we assume that one hop is Line-Of-Sight (LOS) transmission modeled by Rician fading and the other hop is Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) transmission experienced by Rayleigh fading. For each case, the PEP is derived based on the corresponding fading channel model.