Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacterial Colonization of Thrombosed Dialysis Arteriovenous Grafts

In the absence of obvious infection, an abandoned arteriovenous graft (AVG) is generally left in place. This has been thought to be the best solution in view of the surgical procedure that would be required for its removal. However, there are reports of occult infection in these retained AVGs that can lead to significant infectious complications. In addition, there is evidence that abandoned, retained AVGs may contribute to the inflammatory state that exist in association with dialysis patients. This observational report of 100 cases of thrombosed AVG in which the thrombus was cultured at the time of thrombectomy demonstrated a significant degree of bacterial colonization in these cases without evidence of bacteremia. It is proposed that this could be the mechanism by which occult infection in an abandoned, retained AVGs occurs.
Fast Basis Selection and Instantaneous Frequency Tracking for Audio Signal Analysis and Synthesis

This paper focuses on finding the best basis for the synthesis of audio signals and the tracking of slow or fast changing instantaneous frequencies. We propose a penalty based basis selection scheme which allows the random sampling strategy of compressed sensing to reduce the sample size for sparse signals. A greedy heuristic scheme is used for signal reconstruction based on an iterative refinement. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real sounds show the effectiveness of our scheme by achieving high accuracy of tracking instantaneous frequencies with a small number of selected basis.
Real Options and Rules of Thumb in Capital Budgeting 1

Most firms do not make explicit use of real option techniques in evaluating investments. Nevertheless, real option considerations can be a significant component of value, and firms which approximately take them into account should outperform firms which do not. This paper asks whether the use of seemingly arbitrary investment criteria, such as hurdle rates and profitability indexes, can proxy for the use of more sophisticated real options valuation. We find that for a variety of parameters, particular hurdle-rate and profitability index rules can provide close-to-optimal investment decisions. Thus, it may be that firms using seemingly arbitrary “rules of thumb” are approximating optimal decisions. For helpful comments I thank Jonathan Berk, Michael Brennan, Debbie Lucas, Lenos Trigeorgis, and seminar participants at Northwestern University, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the conference “Real Options: Theory Meets Practice”, held at Columbia University in June 1997. Real Options and Rules of Thumb in Capital Budgeting
In Vitro Survey of Triazole Cross-Resistance among More than 700 Clinical Isolates of Aspergillus Species

ABSTRACT Few data exist to describe in vitro patterns of cross-resistance among large collections of clinical Aspergillus isolates, including those of species other than Aspergillus fumigatus. We examined 771 Aspergillus spp. clinical isolates collected from 2000 to 2006 as part of a global antifungal surveillance program (553 A. fumigatus, 76 A. flavus, 59 A. niger, 35 A. terreus, and 24 A. versicolor isolates and 24 isolates of other Aspergillus species). Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M38-A broth dilution method with itraconazole (ITR), posaconazole (POS), ravuconazole (RAV), and voriconazole (VOR). We examined the potential for cross-resistance by using measures of correlation overall and by species. For most Aspergillus isolates (from 88% of isolates for ITR to 98% of isolates for VOR and POS), MICs of each triazole were ≤1 μg/ml. When all 771 isolates were examined, there were statistically significant correlations for all six triazole-triazole pairs. For A. fumigatus, the strongest correlations seen were those between VOR and RAV MICs (r = 0.7) and ITR and POS MICs (r = 0.4). Similarly, for A. flavus, only VOR and RAV MICs and ITR and POS MICs demonstrated statistically significant positive correlations. We have demonstrated correlations among triazole MICs for Aspergillus, which for the most common species (A. fumigatus and A. flavus) were strongest between VOR and RAV MICs and ITR and POS MICs. However, Aspergillus species for which MICs of VOR or POS were >2 μg/ml remain extremely rare (<1% of isolates).
Software Defined Networks-Based Smart Grid Communication: A Comprehensive Survey

The current power grid is no longer a feasible solution due to ever-increasing user demand of electricity, old infrastructure, and reliability issues and thus require transformation to a better grid also known as, smart grid (SG). The key features that distinguish SG from the conventional electrical power grid are its capability to perform two-way communication, demand side management, and real time pricing. Despite all these advantages that SG will bring, there are certain issues which are specific to SG communication (SGC) system. For instance, network management of current SG systems is complex, time consuming, and done manually. Moreover, SGC system is built on different vendor specific devices and protocols. Therefore, the current SG systems are not protocol independent, thus leading to interoperability issue. Software defined network (SDN) has been proposed to monitor and manage the communication networks globally. By separating the control plane from the data plane, SDN helps the network operators to manage the network flexibly. Since SG heavily relies on communication networks, therefore, SDN has also paved its way into the SG. By applying SDN in SG systems, efficiency and resiliency can potentially be improved. SDN, with its programmability, protocol independence, and granularity features, can help the SG to integrate different SG standards and protocols, to cope with diverse communication systems, and to help SG to perform traffic flow orchestration and to meet specific SG quality of service requirements. This paper serves as a comprehensive survey on SDN-based SGC. In this paper, we first discuss taxonomy of advantages of SDN-based SGC. We then discuss SDN-based SGC architectures, along with case studies. This paper provides an in-depth discussion on routing schemes for SDN-based SGC. We also provide detailed survey of security and privacy schemes applied to SDN-based SGC. We furthermore present challenges, open issues, and future research directions related to SDN-based SGC.
Experimental evidence for statistical scaling and intermittency in sediment transport rates

[1] Understanding bed load transport fluctuations in rivers is crucial for development of a transport theory and for choosing a sampling interval for “mean” transport rates. Field-scale studies lack sufficient resolution to statistically characterize these fluctuations, while laboratory experiments are limited in scale and hence cannot be directly compared to field cases. Here we use a natural-scale laboratory channel to examine bed load transport fluctuations in a heterogeneous gravel substrate under normal flow conditions. The novelty of our approach is the application of a geometrical/statistical formalism (called the multifractal formalism), which allows characterization of the “roughness” of the series (depicting the average strength of local abrupt fluctuations in the signal) and the “intermittency” (depicting the temporal heterogeneity of fluctuations of different strength). We document a rougher and more intermittent behavior in bed load sediment transport series at low-discharge conditions, transitioning to a smoother and less intermittent behavior at high-discharge conditions. We derive an expression for the dependence of the probability distribution of bed load sediment transport rates on sampling interval. Our findings are consistent with field observations demonstrating that mean bed load sediment transport rate decreases with sampling time at low-transport conditions and increases with sampling time at high-transport conditions. Simultaneous measurement of bed elevation suggests that the statistics of sediment transport fluctuations are related to the statistics of bed topography.
Performance analysis of (TDD) massive MIMO with Kalman channel prediction

In massive MIMO systems, which rely on uplink pilots to estimate the channel, the time interval between pilot transmissions constrains the length of the downlink. Since switching between up- and downlink takes time, longer downlink blocks increase the effective spectral efficiency. We investigate the use of low-complexity channel models and Kalman filters for channel prediction, to allow for longer intervals between the pilots. Specifically, we quantify how often uplink pilots have to be sent when the downlink rate is allowed to degrade by a certain percentage. To this end, we consider a time-correlated channel aging model, whose spectrum is rectangular, and use autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes to approximate the time-variations of such channels. We show that ARMA-based predictors can increase the interval between pilots and the spectral efficiency in channels with high Doppler spreads. We also show that Kalman prediction is robust to mismatches in the channel statistics.
Network coding-based caching in large-scale SIC-enabled wireless networks

Network coding-based caching at base stations (BSs) is a promising caching approach to support massive content delivery over wireless networks. However, existing network coding-based caching designs do not fully explore and exploit the potential advantages. In this paper, we consider the analysis and optimization of a random linear network coding-based caching design in large-scale successive interference cancelation (SIC)-enabled wireless networks. By utilizing tools from stochastic geometry, we derive a tractable expression for the successful transmission probability in the general file size regime. To further obtain design insights, we also derive closed-form expressions for the successful transmission probability in the small and large file size regimes, respectively. Then, we consider the successful transmission probability maximization by optimizing a design parameter, which is a complex discrete optimization problem. We propose a two-stage optimization framework and obtain a near optimal solution with superior performance and manageable complexity. The analysis and optimization results provide valuable design insights for practical cache and SIC enabled wireless networks. Finally, by numerical results, we show that the proposed near optimal caching design achieves a significant performance gain over some baseline caching designs.
Risk Factor Associations With the Presence of a Lipid Core in Carotid Plaque of Asymptomatic Individuals Using High-Resolution MRI: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Background and Purpose— Atheroma vulnerability to rupture is increased in the presence of a large lipid core. Factors associated with a lipid core in the general population have not been studied. Methods— The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) is a multicenter cohort study of individuals free of clinical cardiovascular disease designed to include a high proportion of ethnic minorities. We selected MESA participants from the top 15th percentile of maximum carotid intima media thickness by ultrasound and acquired high-resolution black blood MRI images through their carotid plaque before and after the intravenous administration of gadodiamide (0.1 mmol/kg). Lumen and outer wall contours were defined using semiautomated analysis software. We analyzed only plaques with a maximum thickness ≥1.5 mm by MRI (n=214) and assessed cross-sectional risk factor associations with lipid core presence by multivariable logistic regression. Results— A lipid core was present in 151 (71%) of the plaques. After controlling for age, ethnicity, sex, maximum arterial wall thickness, hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, and C-reactive protein, compared with participants in the lowest tertile of total plasma cholesterol, the ORs of having a lipid core for participants in the middle and highest tertiles were 2.76 (95% CI: 1.01 to 7.51) and 4.63 (95% CI: 1.56 to 13.75), respectively. None of the other risk factors was associated with lipid core. Conclusions— In persons with thickened carotid walls, plasma total cholesterol, but not other established coronary heart disease risk factors, is strongly associated with lipid core presence by MRI. High total cholesterol may be associated with rupture proneness of atherosclerotic lesions in the general population.
Demo Abstract of Net-Controller: a Network Visualization and Management Tool

Net-Controller is a user-friendly network visualization and management tool developed at EPFL in order to easily retrieve and display in real time network statistics, such as link throughput and queue occupancy from a large testbed composed of wireless routers. Additionally, Net-Controller allows to control and modify the parameters of a complete network from a central point, and to easily generate traffic between different nodes. We intend to illustrate some of the features of Net-Controller through two examples that show how easily this tool detects and helps elucidate the throughput degradation that occurs in a wireless multi-hop network. The first example shows how and why fair queuing [6] improves performance compared to the standard FIFO policy used in off-the-shelf routers. The second example shows how and why a hop-by-hop congestion control mechanism, such as EZ-Flow [4] is needed to tackle the instability problem of a multi-hop scenario.
Differential cleavage of oligonucleotides containing the benzene-derived adduct, 1,N6-benzetheno-dA, by the major human AP endonuclease HAP1 and Escherichia coli exonuclease III and endonuclease IV.

We report here that the newly synthesized DNA adduct, 1,N6-benzetheno-dA (pBQ-dA), in defined oligonucleotides [Chenna and Singer, Chem. Res. Toxicol. , 8, 865-874], is a substrate for the major human AP endonuclease, HAP1, and the Escherichia coli AP endonucleases, exonuclease III and endonuclease IV. The mechanism of cleavage is identical to that reported previously for 3,N4-benzetheno-dC (pBQ-dC) and leads to a phosphodiester bond cleavage 5' to the adduct. There are, however, significant differences in the rate of cleavage of this adduct by these enzymes. The two bacterial AP endonucleases are both much more efficient than the human repair enzyme. In addition, using two random oligodeoxynucleotide sequences containing a single pBQ-dA, exonuclease III and endonuclease IV are similarly active, while HAP1 shows a distinct sequence preference of approximately 10-fold in efficiency of cleavage. The repair of this adduct by the three recombinant enzymes is further confirmed by using both active site mutant HAP1 proteins and by E.coli mutant strains lacking exonuclease III and/ or endonuclease IV. This sequence-dependent repair of pBQ-dA by HAP1 may play an important role in modulating benzene-induced carcinogenesis.
Dependence of InGaP nanowire morphology and structure on molecular beam epitaxy growth conditions

InGaP nanowires (NWs) were grown by the Au-assisted method in a gas source molecular beam epitaxy system. The dependence of InGaP composition, morphology and stacking fault density was studied with respect to group III and V impingement rate and size of the Au particle. Compositional analysis showed that the NWs had an In-rich core and a Ga-rich shell structure. The In incorporation within the NW became limited as the Au seed particle size diminished or the group III and V flux decreased. The NWs had wurtzite (WZ) crystal structure with zinc blende (ZB) segments (stacking faults). The density of the stacking faults decreased as the group III flux decreased and the group V flux increased.
Database and Information Security Concerns

With rise in reliance on distributed information systems for daily business, all business organization are now vulnerable to security threats. A number of techniques are currently available to protect data when transmitted across sites. The data protection must also include mechanisms for enforcing access control policies based on data contents, subject qualifications and characteristics, and other relevant contextual information, such as time. The semantics of data must be taken into account in order to specify effective access control policies. The integrity and availability specifically tailored to database systems must be adopted. Therefore over the years the database security community has developed a number of different techniques and approaches to assure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. I. Introduction The data management technology available now a days is very crucial. Damage and misuse of data affect not only a single user or application, but may have disastrous consequences on the entire organization. The recent rapid proliferation of Web based applications and information systems have further increased the risk exposure of databases and, thus, data protection is today more crucial than ever. It is also important to appreciate that data needs to be protected not only from external threats, but also from insider threats. Security breaches are typically categorized as unauthorized data observation, incorrect data modification, and data unavailability. Unauthorized data observation results in the disclosure of information to users not entitled to gain access to such information. Incorrect modifications of data, either intentional or unintentional, result in an incorrect database state. Any use of incorrect data may result in heavy losses for the organization. When data is unavailable, information crucial for the proper functioning of the organization is not readily available when needed. Techniques for information confidentiality may be used to implement privacy; however, assuring privacy requires additional techniques, such as mechanisms for obtaining and recording the consents of users. Also, confidentiality can be achieved be means of withholding data from access, whereas privacy is required even after the data has been disclosed. In other words, the data should be used only for the purposes sanctioned by the user and not misused for other purposes. Data protection is ensured by different components of a database management system (DBMS). In particular, an access control mechanism ensures data confidentiality. Whenever a subject tries to access a data object, the access control mechanism checks the rights of the user against a set of authorizations, stated …
Vantage point selection for IPv6 measurements: Benefits and limitations of RIPE Atlas tags

RIPE Atlas consists of ∼9.1K probes (as of Jan 2017) connected in core, access and home networks. RIPE Atlas has recently (Jul 2014) introduced a tagging mechanism for fine-grained vantage point selection of probes. These tags are subdivided into user and system tags. User tags are based on a manual process which is largely dependent on proactive participation of probe hosts. We show that only ∼2.8% of probe hosts ever update their user tags which may lead to user tags that tend to become stale over time. System tags on the other hand being automatically assigned and frequently updated (every 4 hours) are stable and accurate. We show an application of system tags by performing a vantage point selection of dual-stacked probes. This exploration reveals that with ∼2.3K (∼26%) connected dual-stacked probes, RIPE Atlas provides the richest source of vantage points for IPv6 measurement studies. These dual-stacked probes span 88 countries and cover 822 ASNs. ∼83% of these dual-stacked probes are connected within access networks with 782 probes deployed at homes with native IPv6 connectivity. These home dual-stacked probes are evenly split across DSL, cable and fibre deployments. We show that IPv6 latencies from these probes to RIPE Atlas anchors appear comparable to IPv4, although IPv4 performs marginally better. By applying a correlation against APNIC IPv6 user population estimate, we further reveal underrepresented countries (such as BE and JP) which would benefit from deployment of more probes for IPv6 measurement studies.
The falling apart of the tagged fragment and the asymptotic disintegration of the Brownian height fragmentation

Une etude additionnelle de la fragmentation de hauteur brownienne est presentee. Plus precisement, une representation de la masse du fragment marque en termes d'une transformation de Doob du subordinateur stable d'indice 1/2 est decrite puis utilisee pour etudier les sauts du processus de masse; ceci nous renseigne sur la facon dans laquelle un fragment typique se casse. Ces resultats se generalisent au cadre des fragmentations de hauteur de l'arbre stable. Enfin, nous donnons un theoreme limite de la fragmentation de l'excursion Brownienne par les hauteurs, centree autour du dernier fragment qui se decompose en poussiere.
Nuclear localization signals in phage terminal proteins provide a novel gene delivery tool in mammalian cells

Terminal proteins (TPs) of bacteriophages prime DNA replication and become covalently linked to the genome ends. Unexpectedly, we have found functional eukaryotic nuclear localization signals (NLSs) within the TP sequences of bacteriophages from diverse families and hosts. Given the role of bacteriophages as vehicles for horizontal gene transfer (HGT), we postulated that viral genomes that have covalently linked NLS-containing terminal proteins might behave as vectors for HGT between bacteria and the eukaryotic nucleus. To validate this hypothesis, we profited from the in vitro Φ29 amplification system that allows the amplification of heterologous DNAs producing linear molecules of DNA with TP covalently attached to both 5' ends. Interestingly, these in vitro-generated TP-DNA molecules showed enhanced gene delivery in mammalian cells, supporting a possible role in HGT by transferring genes between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Moreover, these TP-DNA molecules are a useful tool to amplify and subsequently deliver genes efficiently into the eukaryotic nucleus. Here, we suggest various possible applications and further developments of the technique with biotechnological and therapeutic purposes.
GMM-based speaker gender and age classification after voice conversion

This paper describes an experiment using the Gaussian mixture models (GMM) for classification of the speaker gender/age and for evaluation of the achieved success in the voice conversion process. The main motivation of the work was to test whether this type of the classifier can be utilized as an alternative approach instead of the conventional listening test in the area of speech evaluation. The proposed two-level GMM classifier was first verified for detection of four age categories (child, young, adult, senior) as well as discrimination of gender for all but children's voices in Czech and Slovak languages. Then the classifier was applied for gender/age determination of the basic adult male/female original speech together with its conversion. The obtained resulting classification accuracy confirms usability of the proposed evaluation method and effectiveness of the performed voice conversions.