Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-optimizing block transfer in web service grids

Nowadays, Web Services (WSs) play an increasingly important role in Web data management solutions, since they offer a practical solution for accessing and manipulating data sources spanning administrative domains. Nevertheless, they are notoriously slow and transferring large data volumes across WSs becomes the main bottleneck in such WS-based applications. This paper deals with the problem of minimizing at runtime, in a self-managing way, the datatransfer cost of a WS encapsulating a data source. To reducethe transfer cost, the data volume is typically divided intoblocks. In this case, response time exhibits a quadratic-like, non-linear behavior with regards to the block size; as such, minimizing the transfer cost entails finding the optimum block size. This situation is encountered in several systems, such as WS Management Systems (WSMSs) for DBMS-like data management over wide area service-based networks, and WSs for accessing and integrating traditional DBMSs. The main challenges in this problem include (i) the unavailability of an analytical model; (ii) the presence of noise, which incurs local minima; (iii) the volatility of the environment, which results into a moving optimum operating point; and (iv) the requirements for fast convergence to the optimal size of the request from the side of the client rather than of the server, and for low overshooting. This paper presents two novel solutions for detecting the optimum block size during data transmission, thus yielding lower response times. The solutions are inspired by the broader areas of runtime optimization and switching extremum control. They incorporate heuristics to avoid local optimal points, and address all the afore-mentioned challenges. The effectiveness andeffciency of the solutions is verified through empirical evaluation in real cases.
Disambiguating Verbs with the WordNet Category of the Direct Object

In this paper, I demonstrate that verbs can be disambiguated according to aspect by rules that examine the WordNet category of the direct object. First, when evaluated over a corpus of medical reports, I show that WordNet categories correlate with aspectual class. Then, I develop a rule for distinguishing between stative and event occurrences of have by the WordNet category of the direct object. This rule, which is motivated by both linguistic and statistical analysis, is evaluated over an unrestricted set of nouns. I also show that WordNet categories improve a system that performs aspectual classi(cid:12)cation with linguistically-based numerical indicators.
Analysis of human peg-in-hole executions in a robotic embodiment using uncertain grasps

In this paper, we perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of human peg-in-hole operations in a tele-operating setting with a moderate degree of dexterity. Peg-in-hole operation with different starting configurations are performed with the aim to derive a strategy for performing such actions with a robot. The robot is a 6 DoF robot arm with the dexterous 3 finger SDH-2 gripper. From the extracted data, we can distill important insights about (1) feasible grasps depending on the peg's pose, (2) the object trajectory, (3) the occurrence of a particular force-torque pattern during the monitoring of the action and (4) an appropriate insertion strategy. At the end of the paper, we discuss consequences for using these insights for deriving algorithms for robot execution of peg-in-hole actions with dexterous manipulators.
Composite hydrogel-nanofibre vessels for vascular graft applications

A vascular graft should mimic the structure and properties of the native artery which has a layered structure. The media layer of native arteries contributes the main mechanical support to the vessel and the intima layer, lined with endothelial cells, provides a smooth antithrombogenic surface for circulating blood. To mimic this arterial structure and property, this study focused on fabricating a layered vascular graft with hydrogel and fibre layers to match the compliance properties of native arteries, which is a critical property to smooth the pulsatile blood flow in circulation. Firstly, the feasibility of preparing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based hydrogels with controllable mechanical property was investigated. Three PVA based hydrogels were prepared by blending PVA with chitosan, gelatin or starch and by treatment with freeze-thaw cycles and coagulation. The synergistic crosslinking with the freeze-thaw technique and coagulation was found as a versatile method to control the structure and mechanical properties of PVA-based hydrogels. A further study was focused on the microstructure formation of PVA/Gelatin hydrogel. The results showed that the freeze-thaw cycles increased the strength of hydrogels by growing the crystal domains in the PVA matrix. The coagulation treatment strengthened the mechanical properties of the hydrogels by increasing the overall polymer fraction of the hydrogels. Polyvinyl alcohol with styrylpyridinium pendent groups (PVA-SbQ) is a photosensitive polymer. PVA-SbQ fibres were fabricated by electrospinning and photocrosslinking techniques. The photocrosslinked PVA-SbQ fibre presented water-insoluble properties. Preliminary endothelial cell culture result showed evidence that the PVA-SbQ fibres could potentially act as a cell lining substrate. Finally, a duo-layer vascular graft was constructed with one outer layer composed of a PVA based hydrogel and one inner layer of composed of PVA-SbQ fibres. The mechanical properties, especially the compliance, of the as-prepared duo-layer graft were shown to closely match with that of selected native arteries.
Field Survey on Indoor Air Quality and Health in Japan

Indoor air pollutant by indoor microorganism and house dust has caused asthma, allergy and atopic dermatitis of occupants. In order to make clear indoor air quality and health in houses, eight houses of Miyagi Prefecture in Japan have been investigated. As a result, the amount of floating mold was less than European guideline value. Penicillium sp. and Cladosporium sp. occupy more than 50% amount of total mold.Amount of mite was higher in the houses with dog or carpet than others.The number of particles in the air and amount of house dust on the floor in houses with dog and little child became higher than others. In addition, there was a lot of house dust on the floor in houses with large carpet area. DEHP was found in 7 houses. The concentration of DEHP was almost thesame as the medium obtained from previous study in Sweden.
Blood Pressure Modeling using Statistical and Computational Intelligence Approaches

Prevalence of hypertension in recent years have raised questions about the shape of association between blood pressure (BP) and various factors such as alcohol consumption, age, physical activity level (PAL) to assess the overall cardiovascular risk. However, the risk complexity and the process Dynamics are difficult to analyze. The study presents modeling of Systolic Blood pressure (SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) and Pulse pressure (PP) variations with biological parameters like age, pulse rate, alcohol addiction, and PAL by statistical multiple regression and Feed-forward Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approaches. Different algorithms likes Quasi-Newton, Gradient descent and Genetic Algorithm were used in training the ANN to improve the training performance and better optimization of the predicted values. The statistical analyses clearly indicate that the variation of SBP, DBP and PP with the parameters is statistically significant. ANN approaches give a much more flexible and non-linear model for prognosis and prediction of the blood pressure parameters than classical statistical algorithms. Moreover, evolutionary algorithms like Genetic Algorithms (GA) provide many advantages over usual training algorithms like Gradient descent or Quasi-Newton methods. Although all measures of blood pressure were strongly related to the variables, the analyses indicated that SBP was the best single predictor of cardiovascular events for the present study. More detailed study with varied parameters that influence BP is required for a exhaustive modeling.
An experimental/analytical comparison of strains in encapsulated assemblies

A combined experimental and analytical study of strains developed in encapsulated assemblies during casting, curing and thermal excursions is described. The experimental setup, designed to measure in situ strains, consisted of thin, closed-end, Kovar tubes that were instrumented with strain gages and thermocouples before being over-cast with a polymeric encapsulant. Four bisphenol A (three diethanolamine cured and one anhydride cured) epoxy-based materials and one urethane elastomeric material were studied. After cure of the encapsulant, tube strains were measured over the temperature range of {minus}55{degrees}C to 90{degrees}C. The thermal excursion experiments were then numerically modeled using finite element analyses and the computed strains were compared to the experimental strains. The predicted strains were over estimated (conservative) when a linear, elastic, temperature-dependent material model was assumed for the encapsulant and the stress free temperature T{sub i} was assumed to correspond to the cure temperature {Tc} of the encapsulant. Very good agreement was obtained with linear elastic calculations provided that the stress free temperature corresponded to the onset of the glassy-to-rubbery transition range of the encapsulant. Finally, excellent agreement was obtained in one of the materials (828/DEA) when a viscoelastic material model was utilized and a stress free temperature corresponding to the curemore » temperature was assumed. 13 refs., 20 figs., 3 tabs. « less
The case for hardware transactional memory in software packet processing

Software packet processing is becoming more important to enable differentiated and rapidly-evolving network services. With increasing numbers of programmable processor and accelerator cores per network node, it is a challenge to support sharing and synchronization across them in a way that is scalable and easy-to-program. In this paper, we focus on parallel/threaded applications that have irregular control-flow and frequently-updated shared state that must be synchronized across threads. However, conventional lock-based synchronization is both difficult to use and also often results in frequent conservative serialization of critical sections. Alternatively, we propose that Transactional memory (TM) is a good match to software packet processing: it both (i) can allow the system to optimistically exploit parallelism between the processing of packets whenever it is safe to do so, and (ii) is easy-to-use for a programmer. With the NetFPGA platform and four network packet processing applications that are threaded and share memory, we evaluate hardware support for TM (HTM) using the reconfigurable FPGA fabric. Relative to NetThreads, our two-processor four-way-multithreaded system with conventional lock-based synchronization, we find that adding HTM achieves 6%, 54% and 57% increases in packet throughput for three of four packet processing applications studied, due to reduced conservative serialization.
Simultaneous Purification and Immobilization of Histidine-tagged Bacillus licheniformis Aldehyde Dehydrogenase on Metal Affinity Magnetic Beads

In this research, His Mag Sepharose Ni magnetic beads were employed to simultaneously purify and immobilize histidine-tagged Bacillus licheniformis aldehyde dehydrogenase (His-Bl ALDH). The optimal conditions for the adsorption of His-Bl ALDH on the matrix were 24.6 U/mg adsorbent, incubation at 4 °C for 1 h and the addition of 500 mM NaCl into the crude cell-free extract, and the bound enzyme could be efficiently eluted by 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) containing 500 mM NaCl and 500 mM imidazole. Free His-Bl ALDH was active in temperature range of 30 - 40 °C and had an optimum of 37 °C, while its thermal stability was improved as a result of immobilization. The immobilized enzyme was recycled six times without an obvious loss of the dehydrogenase activity. Up to 20 days of storage, the preserved activity of free and immobilized enzyme was found to be 2.1% and 78.2%, respectively. Collectively, this magnetic adsorbent may be useful for a novel purification-immobilization of His-Bl ALDH.
Immunoreactive ET-1 in the vitreous humor and epiretinal membranes of patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

PURPOSE Endothelin one (ET-1) is a vasomodulator peptide that plays a role on ocular blood flow, glial proliferation, and collagen matrix contraction by retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells. Both glial and RPE cells have been involved in the formation of epiretinal membranes (ERMs). This investigation was conducted to determine whether ET-1 may be associated with ERMs, either idiopathic (IERMs) or from proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). METHODS Plasma and vitreous samples were collected from patients classified by the presence of PVR membranes, retinal detachment (RD), and other ocular conditions, such as IERMs, that made the patients candidates for vitrectomy. Immunoreactive endothelin one (IR-ET-1) was tested in plasma and vitreous by radioimmunoassay. Immunoreactive-ET-1 was localized in IERMs and PVR membranes immunohistochemically. Expression of endothelin receptors A (ETA) and B (ETB) was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS IR-ET-1 levels in plasma and vitreous were higher in patients with PVR and in patients with RD than in those of the control group. Eyes with IERMs also showed higher IR-ET-1 levels than the control group cases. IR-ET-1 levels in eyes with PVR were higher than those in eyes with IERMs. IR-ET-1 levels in eyes with RD were also higher than those of eyes with IERMs. Immunoreactive ET-1 was localized in the cellular and stromal components of both IERMs and PVR membranes. Furthermore, ETA and ETB receptors were expressed in both IERMs and PVR membranes. CONCLUSIONS IR-ET-1 in human vitreous is elevated in PVR, RD, and IERMs. ET-1 and its receptors ETA and ETB are present in epiretinal tissue of both idiopathic and PVR membranes. These data suggest an involvement of ET-1 in retinal disease.
A Cytoplasmic Gel Network Capable of Mediating the Conversion of Chemical Energy to Mechanical Work in Diverse Cell Processes: A Speculation

Enigmatic morphological features of the formation and fate of ‘dark’ (hyper-basophilic, hyper-argy-rophilic and hyper-electrondense) neurons suggest that the mechanical work causing their dramatic shrinkage (whole-cell ultrastructural compaction) is done by a previously ‘unknown’ ultrastructural component residing in the spaces between their ‘known’ (i.e. visible in the conventional transmission electron microscopy) ultrastructural constituents. Embedment-free section electron microscopy revealed in these spaces the existence of a continuous network of gel microdomains, which is embedded in a continuous network of fluid-filled lacunae. We gathered experimental facts suggesting that this gel network is capable of a volume-reducing phase-transition (an established physico-chemical phenomenon), which could be the motor of the whole-cell ultrastructural compaction. The present paper revisits our relevant observations and speculates how such a continuous whole-cell gel network can do both whole-cell and compartmentalized mechanical work.
Potential Bio-Effects in Human Health from Radio Frequency Smog

In the modern era, communication technologies had a significant development. Thus, in order to improve the capacity and coverage, a massive technological advancement has become widespread subject. However, the pollution caused by the Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field (RF-EMF) radiation is considered as the greatest environmental hazard. Hence, the present review proposes a suitable solution to mitigate the RF pollution or smog from base station installation in hot spot areas. Some reports indicated the harmful effects of health caused by base station that discharge the maximum value of electro-magnetic radiation nearer to the residential area. Due to secure the people who are living around the base stations and low message transfer between cellular communication between users, BS and the core network to access internet. Low power, confining radiation pattern, distance factor and signal transmission are factors reducing base stations that leads to considerably decrease the Radio Frequency pollution and interference reduction. The aim of this paper to explore limit for RF field interference in the Small Cell Base Station (SCBS). As well as a standard limitation is provided in the RF interference range.
Drug Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Enterococci with Special Reference to Vancomycin, from North India

Over the last decades, infections due to multi-drug resistant enterococci have been increasingly reported worldwide. This study was done so as to determine the prevalence of enterococcal infections and various species, to detect drug resistance and epidemiological pattern of the resistant isolates. The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in North India. Isolates of enterococci were collected from various clinical specimens and speciated using extensive phenotypic and physiological tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by disc diffusion and agar screening method as per CLSI guidelines. RAPD typing was done to characterize the vancomycin resistant isolates. In our study we found E. faecium as the major isolated species from the specimens from enterococcal infections. The antimicrobial susceptibility testing depicted multi-drug resistant isolates. The RAPD typing of VRE revealed heterogeneous patterns without any dominant clone. Our study showed prevalence of multi-drug resistant enterococcal isolates, with notable resistance to ampicillin, fluoroquinolones and high level aminoglycosides. Epidemiological pattern of VRE revealed acquisition of resistance determinants independently.
Eﬀectiveness of Index Expressions

The quest for improving retrieval performance has led to the deployment of larger syntactical units than just plain words. This article presents a retrieval experiment that compares the eﬀectiveness of two unsupervised language models which generate terms that exceed the word boundary. In particular, this article tries to show that index expressions provide, beside their navigational properties, a good way to capture the semantics of inter-word relations and by doing so, form an adequate base for information retrieval applications.
Infarct Tissue Heterogeneity Assessed With Contrast-Enhanced MRI Predicts Spontaneous Ventricular Arrhythmia in Patients With Ischemic Cardiomyopathy and Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator

Background—The relation between infarct tissue heterogeneity on contrast-enhanced MRI and the occurrence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmia (or sudden cardiac death) is unknown. Therefore, the study purpose was to evaluate the predictive value of infarct tissue heterogeneity assessed with contrast-enhanced MRI on the occurrence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmia with subsequent implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy (as surrogate of sudden cardiac death) in patients with previous myocardial infarction. Methods and Results—Ninety-one patients (age, 65±11 years) with previous myocardial infarction scheduled for ICD implantation underwent cine MRI to evaluate left ventricular function and volumes and contrast-enhanced MRI for characterization of scar tissue (infarct gray zone as measure of infarct tissue heterogeneity, infarct core, and total infarct size). Appropriate ICD therapy was documented in 18 patients (20%) during a median follow-up of 8.5 months (interquartile range, 2.1 to 20.3). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed that infarct gray zone was the strongest predictor of the occurrence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmia with subsequent ICD therapy (hazard ratio, 1.49/10 g; CI, 1.01 to 2.20; &khgr;2=4.0; P=0.04). Conclusions—Infarct tissue heterogeneity on contrast-enhanced MRI is the strongest predictor of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmia with subsequent ICD therapy (as surrogate of sudden cardiac death) among other clinical and MRI variables, that is, total infarct size and left ventricular function and volumes, in patients with previous myocardial infarction.
DRS Digital Library

: A fundamental shift in the way society operates is approaching due to the prevalent adoption of self-learning technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Defined by the well-pronounced incongruence between their initial purpose and the values delivered to their multifaceted users, AI-powered systems are already being deployed in crucial social institutions such as hospitals, banks and courtrooms. To solve this tension, we first identify design practices that are suitable for the context of AI. Then we introduce a framework of three logical inferences that could aid designers to deliberately and continuously identify and address unintended values AI-powered solutions produce. The paper is concluded by three directions for future research.
Versatile Cost Partitioning with Exact Sensitivity Analysis

Saturated post-hoc optimization is a powerful method for computing admissible heuristics for optimal classical planning. The approach solves a linear program (LP) for each state encountered during the search, which is computationally demanding. In this paper, we theoretically and empirically analyze to which extent we can reuse an LP solution of one state for another. We introduce a novel sensitivity analysis that can exactly characterize the set of states for which a unique LP solution is optimal. Furthermore, we identify two properties of the underlying LPs that affect reusability. Finally, we introduce an algorithm that optimizes LP solutions to generalize well to other states. Our new algorithms significantly reduce the number of necessary LP computations.
Potential Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Anityrosenase Activities achieved by Selected Species of Marine Macroalgae

Marine macroalgae are very rich source of phenolic compounds endowed with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bioactivity composition of three selected green, brown and red algae – viz., Halimeda opuntia , Padina pavonica and Halymenia sp. , respectively from Jeddah coast in Saudi Arabia. The antimicrobial properties against pathogenic Grame positive, Grame negative bacteria and fungi were tested. In vitro antioxidant activities including 1, 1-Diphenyl -2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, antityrosenase activity and lipid peroxidation activity were studied. The highest amount of phenolic compound was found in the extract obtained from Padina pavonica this extract also showed good antioxidant activity expressed by its capacity to scavenge superoxide anion and to inhibit lipid peroxidation. Halimeda opuntia , Padina pavonica exhibited good antioxidant activity when compared to Halymenia sp. The maximum antimicrobial activity was shown by the extract of Halimeda opuntia , Padina pavonica against Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 27736 (32mm). The results showed that marine macroalgae exhibited varying degrees of antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.