Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical Tests for Key Recovery Using Multidimensional Extension of Matsui's Algorithm 1

In one dimension, there is essentially just one binomially distributed statistic, bias or correlation, for testing correctness of a key bit in Matsui's Algorithm 1. In multiple dimensions, different statistical approaches for finding the correct key candidate are available. The purpose of this work is to investigate the efficiency of such test in theory and practice, and propose a new key class ranking statistic using distributions based on multidimensional linear approximation and generalisation of the ranking statistic presented by Selc cuk.
Hybrid vision-based robot control robust to large calibration errors on both intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters

This paper concerns the control of a camera, mounted on the end-effector of a robot manipulator, using a hybrid visual servoing scheme. Hybrid vision-based control consists in using information available directly at the image level jointly with the information reconstructed from two views of a rigid object (i.e. the displacement of the camera). The aim of this paper is to design a simple control law and to provide sufficient conditions for its global asymptotic stability. The control law is proved to be robust to a large amount of calibration errors. Contrarily to previous work, we suppose that calibration errors concern both intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters.
Effect of Traffic Shifts on the Economics of Telecommunication Competition

We consider a telecommunication competition model involving an incumbent and one or more new entrants who only choose to serve the most profitable traffic. The contribution of this paper is a new analysis that studies the effect of traffic shifts, which are common in the Internet era, on the distribution of market share. Introducing and using a new concept of a shifting network process, we analyze an incumbent network provider adapting its network to this shifting network process with a mixed integer linear program (MILP). In addition, a second MILP is developed to determine the maximum market share obtainable by a single competitor, engaging in so-called "cream-skimming". Further, we investigate the situation wherein multiple competitors compete on specific parts of the network. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the various market share effects that may occur.
Combined Immunologic and Anti-Angiogenic Therapy Reduces Hepatic Micrometastases in a Murine Ocular Melanoma Model

Purpose: To evaluate the combined effect of neoadjuvant intracameral interferon α -2b and adjuvant low-dose angiostatin in reducing the number of hepatic micrometastases in a murine model of ocular melanoma. Methods: The posterior compartments of the right eyes of C57BL6 mice were inoculated with 5 × 105 cells/2.5 μ l of cells from the Queens, B16F10, or B16LS9 melanoma cell lines. The right eyes were enucleated at 7 days, and the mice were sacrificed at 28 days postinoculation, respectively. Hepatic micrometastases were counted. There were four treatment groups (n = 15 each) for each cell line as follows: group 1, intraperitoneal injections of 20 KIU interferon α -2b for 4 days prior to enucleation; group 2, intramuscular injections of 100 μ l 0.1 μ g/μ l murine angiostatin every day for 14 days starting on day 1 after enucleation; group 3, treatment of group 1 and group 2 combined; group 4, intraperitoneal and intramuscular injections of equal volumes of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (control group). Results: Results showed decreased micrometastases for groups 1 through 3 compared with group 4, with the greatest reduction in group 3 (p < 0.006). Conclusions: This study suggests that combined neoadjuvant interferon α -2b and adjuvant low-dose angiostatin therapy act synergistically to decrease hepatic micrometastases in a murine ocular melanoma model.
Polytope Model for Extractive Summarization

The problem of text summarization for a collection of documents is defined as the problem of selecting a small subset of sentences so that the contents and meaning of the original document set are preserved in the best possible way. In this paper we present a linear model for the problem of text summarization, where we strive to obtain a summary that preserves the information coverage as much as possible in comparison to the original document set. We construct a system of linear inequalities that describes the given document set and its possible summaries and translate the problem of finding the best summary to the problem of finding the point on a convex polytope closest to the given hyperplane. This re-formulated problem can be solved efficiently with the help of quadratic programming.
A review of therapeutic angiogenesis and consideration of its potential applications to plastic and reconstructive surgery.

The use of exogenous agents to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels into ischaemic tissue is a potentially revolutionary therapy in a wide variety of clinical specialties. Therapeutic angiogenesis research has been mostly confined to ischaemia of the heart and the lower limb. There has been relatively little research into the potential applications of the technique to plastic, reconstructive and burns surgery. In this paper, relevant published work is reviewed and potential applications of therapeutic angiogenesis to our specialty are considered.
Astaxanthin acts via LRP-1 to inhibit inflammation and reverse lipopolysaccharide-induced M1/M2 polarization of microglial cells

Microglia become activated during neuroinflammation and produce neurotoxic and neurotrophic factors, depending on whether they acquire M1 proinflammatory or M2 anti-inflammatory phenotypes. Astaxanthin (ATX), a natural carotenoid, has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. We investigated whether ATX could reverse M1/M2 polarization and suppress neuroinflammation via low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1 (LRP-1). We observed increased expression of M1 (TNF-α, IL-1β, and CD86) and decreased expression of M2 (Arg-1, IL-10, and CD206) markers in BV2 microglial cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). These alterations were reversed by pretreating the cells with ATX. Activation of the NF-κB and JNK pathways was observed upon LPS stimulation, which was reversed by ATX. ATX-induced M2 polarization was attenuated by inhibition of NF-κB and JNK. Pretreatment of LPS-stimulated BV2 cells with ATX resulted in increased LRP-1 expression. The addition of receptor-associated protein, an LRP-1 antagonist, ameliorated ATX-induced inactivation of NF-κB and JNK signaling, and M2 polarization. ATX promotes M2 polarization to suppress neuroinflammation via LRP-1 by inhibiting NF-κB and JNK signaling. This novel mechanism may suppress neuroinflammation in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Sparser Relative Bundle Adjustment (SRBA): Constant-time maintenance and local optimization of arbitrarily large maps

In this paper we defend the superior scalability of the Relative Bundle Adjustment (RBA) framework for tackling with the SLAM problem. Although such a statement was already done with the introduction of the sliding window (SW) solution to RBA [16], we claim that the map extension that can be maintained locally consistent for some fixed computational cost critically depends on the specific pattern in which new keyframes are connected to previous ones. By rethinking from scratch what we call loop closures in relative coordinates we will show the unexploited flexibility of the RBA framework, which allows us a continuum of strategies from pure relative BA to hybrid submapping with local maps. In this work we derive a systematic way of constructing the problem graph which lies close to submapping and which generates graphs that can be solved more efficiently than those built as previously reported in the literature. As a necessary tool we also present an algorithm for incrementally updating all the spanning-trees demanded by any efficient solution to RBA. Under weak assumptions on the map, and implemented on carefully designed data structures, it is demonstrated to run in bounded time, no matter how large the map becomes. We also present experiments with a synthetic dataset of 55K keyframes in a world of 4.3M landmarks. Our C++ implementation has been released as open source.
Role of pretherapeutic biomarkers in predicting postoperative radiotherapy response in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose : To assess the role of biomarker levels in predicting radiotherapy (RT) response in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of buccal mucosa treated with postoperative RT. Materials and methods : Thirty-one patients with squamous cell carcinoma of buccal mucosa who received postoperative RT were enrolled for the study. Glutathione S -transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activity were analysed from primary tumour and adjacent normal mucosa of the same patients before RT. p53 and p21ras were localized immunohistochemically. Results : Enzyme activation was predicted by comparing the levels of these enzymes in tumour and adjacent normal mucosa. Deactivation of GST, activation of GR, SOD and catalase were associated with poor response to RT. p53 immunoreactivity was associated with failure to respond to RT. Conclusions : These markers may be useful in predicting treatment outcome in patients receiving postoperative RT, although this conclusion requires confirmation in a larger group of patients.
Prenatal stress changes learning strategies in adulthood

It is well known that stressful experiences may shape hippocampus‐dependent learning and memory processes. However, although most studies focused on the impact of stress at the time of learning or memory testing, very little is known about how stress during critical periods of brain development affects learning and memory later in life. In this study, we asked whether prenatal stress exposure may influence the engagement of hippocampus‐dependent spatial learning strategies and caudate nucleus‐dependent response learning strategies in later life. To this end, we tested healthy participants whose mothers had experienced major negative life events during their pregnancy in a virtual navigation task that can be solved by spatial and response strategies. We found that young adults with prenatal stress used rigid response learning strategies more often than flexible spatial learning strategies compared with participants whose mothers did not experience major negative life events during pregnancy. Individual differences in acute or chronic stress do not account for these findings. Our data suggest that the engagement of hippocampal and nonhippocampal learning strategies may be influenced by stress very early in life. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Age-related decrease in respiratory muscle mitochondrial function in rats.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effects of aging on diaphragmatic mitochondrial function. Diaphragm mitochondria were prepared from specific pathogen-free rats aged 7 wk (n = 7), 35 wk (n = 7), and 55 wk (n = 7). The activities of various portions of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, i.e., complexes I, II, III, and IV, were measured enzymatically. The specific activities of complex I decreased significantly (P less than 0.01) in 35-wk-old rats (726 +/- 90 nmol/min/mg protein) compared with 7-wk-old rats (1,018 +/- 121), and the decrease was more remarkable in 35-wk-old rats (565 +/- 64; P less than 0.01 versus 35-wk-old). The activities of complex IV also decreased significantly (P less than 0.01) in 55-wk-old rats (1,222 +/- 191) compared with 7-wk-old rats (1,797 +/- 208); however, no significant changes in complex IV activities between 7-wk-old rat and 35-wk-old rats were observed. In contrast, the activities of complex II and III were not affected by aging. Limb muscle, heart, and liver mitochondria were also prepared from the same rats. The same tendency was observed in limb muscle mitochondria; however, in heart and liver mitochondria, activities of all four complexes were not changed in rats of all age groups. These results indicate that vulnerability of mitochondrial electron transport chain to aging differs from organ to organ and that it also differs from portion to portion in the electron transport chain and the most vulnerable site was complex I. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The transition between different physiological states during balanced growth of Salmonella typhimurium.

When cultures of Salmonella typhimurium undergoing balanced growth are shifted from one medium to another, a definite pattern of rate changes is observed. Shifts from a low to a high growth rate result in a strict succession of events: RNA synthesis is immediately affected and its rate rapidly increases to that characteristic of the new medium; the increase in optical density shows a lag of a few minutes before the new rate is attained; DNA synthesis and cell division, on the other hand, continue at the old rate for appreciable periods of time and then abruptly shift to the new rates. The times at which these shifts take place are, at 37°, invariably 20 and 70 min., regardless of the actual growth rates before and after the shift. This rate maintenance effect on DNA synthesis and cell division is discussed in terms of specific rate-controlling mechanisms.
ORAN: OpenFlow Routers for Academic Networks

We present the design and prototyping of an OpenFlow-enabled Gigabit Ethernet switch based on an ATCA industrial standard platform. Our work consists of an architectural design for introducing OpenFlow switch functionalities to the ATCA switching platform, design and development of an enhanced library for OpenFlow protocol stack, and porting the data-path functionalities and protocol end-point to the selected platform. We also carry out several performance evaluation tests on the developed switching platform and present selected results. The results demonstrate the successful introduction of OpenFlow protocol to the ATCA platform and contribute, among other things, to the identification of performance bottlenecks and crucial design issues in OpenFlow switches.
Adaptive Classification by Variational Kalman Filtering

We propose in this paper a probabilistic approach for adaptive inference of generalized nonlinear classification that combines the computational advantage of a parametric solution with the flexibility of sequential sampling techniques. We regard the parameters of the classifier as latent states in a first order Markov process and propose an algorithm which can be regarded as variational generalization of standard Kalman filtering. The variational Kalman filter is based on two novel lower bounds that enable us to use a non-degenerate distribution over the adaptation rate. An extensive empirical evaluation demonstrates that the proposed method is capable of infering competitive classifiers both in stationary and non-stationary environments. Although we focus on classification, the algorithm is easily extended to other generalized nonlinear models.
Computing room acoustics with CUDA - 3D FDTD schemes with boundary losses and viscosity

In seeking to model realistic room acoustics, direct numerical simulation can be employed. This paper presents 3D Finite Difference Time Domain schemes that incorporate losses at boundaries and due to the viscosity of air. These models operate within a virtual room designed on a detailed floor plan. The schemes are computed at 44.1kHz, using large-scale data sets containing up to 100 million points each. A performance comparison is made between serial computation in C, and parallel computation using CUDA on GPUs, showing up to 80 times speed-ups. Testing on two different Nvidia Tesla cards shows the benefits of the latest FERMI architecture for double precision floating-point computation.
Delay and Power Reduction in RLC VLSI Interconnect Models

This paper presents a comparative analysis of reduced segment; T and ? RLC interconnect models. With down scaling of technology, the interconnect structures have became a predominant factor in determining the overall circuit performance. Controlling interconnect propagation delay is the fundamental parameter to high speed VLSI designs. In this work, model performance has been evaluated in terms of propagation delay and power dissipation. The design models have been implemented using Cadence Virtuoso Analog Design Suite at 180nm CMOS technology at high frequency range of 0. 1GHz to 2GHz. A significant decrease of 38. 424ps in propagation delay has been observed in ? -Model as compared to the reduced
Marine coastal zones monitoring by shipborne semiautomatic passive optical complex

ABSTRACT For studying of the environmental status of marine coastal areas, it is often necessary to obtain operatively detailed data about water constituents and their distribution over the area. The three-channel passive optical complex for Ecological Monitoring of Marine Areas (EMMA), developed by us, was applied in the Feodosia Bay, the Black Sea, to obtain remotely the absorption indices for the suspended matter, coloured dissolved organic matter, and phytoplankton pigments. It operated from board a vessel for more than 4 h and gave data for approximately 15,000 sea radiance coefficient spectra. The obtained spectra were processed by the original method giving possibility to suppress negative influence of the weather and experiment conditions and to get the absorption index spectra of the water constituents. The data of shipborne remote sensing using EMMA were compared to the estimates retrieved from the measurements on water samples taken at special stations on the route; their correlation turned out to be quite reasonable. The distributions of the suspended matter and coloured organic matter, obtained remotely over the studied area, were discussed. This research showed the possibility of EMMA application for ground truth measurements and for exploring the sea areas close to the coastal line, which cannot be seen from satellites because of cloudiness.
Self-paced brain–computer interface control of ambulation in a virtual reality environment

Objective. Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leaves affected individuals unable to ambulate. Electroencephalogram (EEG) based brain–computer interface (BCI) controlled lower extremity prostheses may restore intuitive and able-body-like ambulation after SCI. To test its feasibility, the authors developed and tested a novel EEG-based, data-driven BCI system for intuitive and self-paced control of the ambulation of an avatar within a virtual reality environment (VRE). Approach. Eight able-bodied subjects and one with SCI underwent the following 10-min training session: subjects alternated between idling and walking kinaesthetic motor imageries (KMI) while their EEG were recorded and analysed to generate subject-specific decoding models. Subjects then performed a goal-oriented online task, repeated over five sessions, in which they utilized the KMI to control the linear ambulation of an avatar and make ten sequential stops at designated points within the VRE. Main results. The average offline training performance across subjects was 77.2±11.0%, ranging from 64.3% (p = 0.001 76) to 94.5% (p = 6.26×10−23), with chance performance being 50%. The average online performance was 8.5±1.1 (out of 10) successful stops and 303±53 s completion time (perfect = 211 s). All subjects achieved performances significantly different than those of random walk (p < 0.05) in 44 of the 45 online sessions. Significance. By using a data-driven machine learning approach to decode users’ KMI, this BCI–VRE system enabled intuitive and purposeful self-paced control of ambulation after only 10 minutes training. The ability to achieve such BCI control with minimal training indicates that the implementation of future BCI-lower extremity prosthesis systems may be feasible.
Toward the Use of a Standardized Assessment for Young Children with Autism

Little is known about the progress of autistic children following specific interventions in England. Nor do we know how frequently standardized assessments are used to monitor progress or to evaluate specific educational interventions. The reports of 75 children with autism, for whom special educational provision had been determined by a local education authority, were reviewed. Parents were interviewed and educational psychologists were contacted for details of any norm-referenced assessments. Of these children, 39 percent had no standardized assessments before education authorities determined their provision, and only 9 percent had follow-up assessments that could be used to evaluate progress. Children with autism in the UK rarely have sufficient assessments to allow an objective evaluation of their progress. There is currently no standardized assessment protocol to prescribe a specific educational intervention, to evaluate the progress of children or to make comparisons between interventions. We recommend the development of such a protocol.
A Single-Amino-Acid Change in Murine Norovirus NS1/2 Is Sufficient for Colonic Tropism and Persistence

ABSTRACT Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the major cause of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis worldwide but has no clear animal reservoir. HuNoV can persist after the resolution of symptoms, and this persistence may be essential for viral maintenance within the population. Many strains of the related murine norovirus (MNV) also persist, providing a tractable animal model for studying norovirus (NoV) persistence. We have used recombinant cDNA clones of representative persistent (CR6) and nonpersistent (CW3) strains to identify a domain within the nonstructural gene NS1/2 that is necessary and sufficient for persistence. Furthermore, we found that a single change of aspartic acid to glutamic acid in CW3 NS1/2 was sufficient for persistence. This same conservative change also caused increased growth of CW3 in the proximal colon, which we found to be a major tissue reservoir of MNV persistence, suggesting that NS1/2 determines viral tropism that is necessary for persistence. These findings represent the first identified function for NoV NS1/2 during infection and establish a novel model system for the study of enteric viral persistence.
Genome-block expression-assisted association studies discover malaria resistance genes in Anopheles gambiae

Significance We developed an approach to fine-map large genomic regions that play important roles for malaria parasite resistance in the vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. Direct-association studies in wild mosquitoes from malaria-endemic areas in Africa identified three mutations in three genes that are associated significantly with Plasmodium falciparum infection. We confirmed the involvement of these genes in parasite infection by silencing them. The discovered genes will help us understand interactions between the mosquitoes and parasites. The identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms could be used to develop a malaria risk-assessment tool and may help eliminate parasite-susceptible mosquitoes. The malaria parasite-resistance island (PRI) of the African mosquito vector, Anopheles gambiae, was mapped to five genomic regions containing 80 genes, using coexpression patterns of genomic blocks. High-throughput sequencing identified 347 nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms within these genes in mosquitoes from malaria-endemic areas in Kenya. Direct association studies between nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms and Plasmodium falciparum infection identified three naturally occurring genetic variations in each of three genes (An. gambiae adenosine deaminase, fibrinogen-related protein 30, and fibrinogen-related protein 1) that were associated significantly with parasite infection. A role for these genes in the resistance phenotype was confirmed by RNA interference knockdown assays. Silencing fibrinogen-related protein 30 increased parasite infection significantly, whereas ablation of fibrinogen-related protein 1 transcripts resulted in mosquitoes nearly free of parasites. The discovered genes and single-nucleotide polymorphisms are anticipated to be useful in the development of tools for malaria control in endemic areas in Africa.