Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Capillary multipath routing with FEC for real-time multimedia

Using forward error correction (FEC) in off-line streaming, together with large buffers, yields spectacular results. However real-time streaming puts hard restrictions on the buffer size and therefore does not allow FEC to deal with long link failures on a single path route. In contrast multi-path routing can make FEC effective also for real-time streaming. In this paper we introduce a capillary routing algorithm offering a wide range of multi-path routing topologies starting from a simple (max-flow multi-path) solution toward more reliable and secure schemes obtained by recursively spreading individual sub-flows. The friendliness of a particular multipath routing is measured by a measure called Adaptive Redundancy Overall Need (ARON), which is proportional to the sender’s total channel coding effort needed for recovering the failure of each link in the multi-path route. A dozen of capillary routing layers, built on several hundreds of network samples obtained from a random walk wireless Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET), are rated with ARON. They show that the FEC friendliness improves substantially as the spreading of the routing grows.
Effectiveness of biomedical risk assessment as an aid for smoking cessation: a systematic review

Objective: To determine the efficacy of biomedical risk assessment (eg, exhaled carbon monoxide (CO), or genetic susceptibility to lung cancer) as an aid for smoking cessation. Data sources: Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialized Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline (1966–2004) and EMBASE (1980–2004). Study selection: Randomised controlled smoking cessation interventions using biomedical tests with at least 6 months follow-up. Data extraction: Two reviewers independently screened all search results (titles and abstracts) for possible inclusion. Each reviewer then extracted data from the selected studies, and assessed their methodological quality based on the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement criteria. Data synthesis: Of 4049 retrieved references, eight trials were retained for data extraction and analysis. Three trials isolated the effect of exhaled CO on smoking cessation rates resulting in the following ORs and 95% CIs: 0.73 (0.38 to 1.39), 0.93 (0.62 to 1.41) and 1.18 (0.84 to 1.64). Measurement of exhaled CO and spirometry were used together in three trials, resulting in the following ORs (95% CI): 0.60 (0.25 to 1.46), 2.45 (0.73 to 8.25) and 3.50 (0.88 to 13.92). Spirometry results alone were used in one other trial with an OR (95% CI) of 1.21 (0.60 to 2.42). Ultrasonography of carotid and femoral arteries performed on light smokers gave an OR (95% CI) of 3.15 (1.06 to 9.31). Conclusions: Scarcity and limited quality of the current evidence does not support the hypothesis that biomedical risk assessment increases smoking cessation as compared with the standard treatment.
Complexity-Optimized Low-Density Parity-Check Codes

Using a numerical approach, tradeoffs between code rate and decoding complexity are studied for long-block-length irregular low-density parity-check codes decoded using the sum-product algorithm under the usual parallel-update messagepassing schedule. The channel is an additive white Gaussian noise channel and the modulation format is binary antipodal signalling, although the methodology can be extended to any other channels for which a density evolution analysis may be carried out. A measure is introduced that incorporates two factors that contribute to the decoding complexity. One factor, which scales linearly with the number of edges in the code’s factor graph, measures the number of operations required to carry out a single decoding iteration. The other factor is an estimate of the number of iterations required to reduce the the bit-error probability from that given by the channel to a desired target. The decoding complexity measure is obtained from a density-evolution analysis of the code, which is used to relate decoding complexity with the code’s degree distribution and code rate. One natural optimization problem that arises in this context is to maximize code rate for a given channel subject to a constraint on decoding complexity. At one extreme (no constraint on decoding complexity) one obtains the “threshold-optimized” LDPC codes that have been the focus of much attention in recent years. Such codes themselves represent one possible means of trading decoding complexity for rate, as such codes can be applied in channels better than the one for which they are designed, achieving the benefit of a reduced decoding complexity. However, it is found that the codes optimized using the methods described in this paper provide a better tradeoff, often achieving the same code rate with approximately 1/3 the decoding complexity of the threshold-optimized codes.
Visual Nudges for Enhancing the Use and Produce of Reputation Information

In this paper, we aim to analyse the current level of usability on ten popular online websites utilising some kind of reputation system. The conducted heuristic and expert evaluations reveal a number of deficiencies on the overall usability of these websites, but especially on how the reputation information is currently presented. The low level of usability has direct consequences on how accessible and understandable the reputation information is to the user. We also conducted user studies, consisting of test tasks and interviews, on two websites utilising reputation information. The results suggest why the currently provided information remains under-utilised and, to a great extent, goes undetected or gets misinterpreted. On basis of the work so far, we propose ways to overcome some of the current problems by changing, rearranging and grouping of the visual elements and visual layout of the reputation information offered on the sites. The enhanced visualisations create “visual nudges” by enhancing the key elements in order to make users notice and use the information available for better and more informed decisions.
Early and late event-related potentials are modulated by infant and adult faces of high and low attractiveness

The processing of infant faces may be somewhat distinct from that of adult faces. Indeed, recent neuroimaging studies have provided evidence of an early, “baby-specific” neural response whereby infant faces are perceived more rapidly than adult faces. Using event-related potentials, the present study aimed to determine whether the preferential response to infant faces is present at both early and late stages of face processing, and to investigate the effects of esthetic appearance on the processing of adult and infant faces by directly manipulating the perceived attractiveness or cuteness within a given face identity. Here, we find evidence for enhanced processing of infant faces, relative to adult faces, at both early (N170, P2) and late (LPC) stages of face processing. We also find that the esthetic appearance of both infant and adult faces modulates early neural responses, with enhanced responses to less attractive/cute faces as compared to more attractive/cute faces. Overall, our results provide additional evidence for a preferential response to infant faces at early stages of processing, and provide new evidence that this preferential response occurs at later stages of face processing as well, independent of the esthetic quality of the face or observer sex.
A programmable online/off-line built-in self-test scheme for RAMs with ECC

Embedded memory plays an important role in modern system-on-chip designs. However, the reliability issue of embedded memories becomes more and more critical with the shrinking of transistor feature size. This paper proposes a programmable online/off-line built-in self-test (BIST) scheme for random access memories (RAMs) with error correction code (ECC). The BIST scheme can be used for performing production testing and periodic transparent testing. In comparison with an existing transparent BIST scheme, the proposed BIST scheme does not incur the aliasing problem. Also, it can provide good fault location capability in online test mode. Experimental results show that the area cost of the proposed online/off-line BIST scheme is low—only about 2.6% for a 4K×39-bit SRAM.
Fire-and-Forget: Load/Store Scheduling with No Store Queue at All

Modern processors use CAM-based load and store queues (LQ/SQ) to support out-of-order memory scheduling and store-to-load forwarding. However, the LQ and SQ scale poorly for the sizes required for large-window, high-ILP processors. Past research has proposed ways to make the SQ more scalable by reorganizing the CAMs or using non-associative structures. In particular, the store queue index prediction (SQIP) approach allows for load instructions to predict the exact SQ index of a sourcing store and access the SQ in a much simpler and more scalable RAM-based fashion. The reason why SQIP works is that loads that receive data directly from stores will usually receive the data from the same store each time. In our work, we take a slightly different view on the underlying observation used by SQIP: a store that forwards data to a load usually forwards to the same load each time. This subtle change in perspective leads to our "fire-and-forget" (FnF) scheme for load/store scheduling and forwarding that results in the complete elimination of the store queue. The idea is that stores issue out of the reservation stations like regular instructions, and any store that forwards data to a load will use a predicted LQ index to directly write the value to the LQ entry without any associative logic. Any mispredictions/misforwardings are detected by a low-overhead pre-commit re-execution mechanism. Our original goal for FnF was to design a more scalable memory scheduling microarchitecture than the previously proposed approaches without degrading performance. The relative infrequency of store-to-load forwarding, accurate LQ index prediction, and speculative cloaking actually combine to enable FnF to slightly out-perform the competition. Specifically, our simulation results show that our SQ-less fire-and-forget provides a 3.3% speedup over a processor using a conventional fully-associative SQ
Pattern of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Physicians’ Antibiotic Prescribing Practices in Bahrain

Objective: To evaluate the pattern of antibiotic prescriptions for paediatric upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and determine the associated predictors for such antibiotic use in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Subjects and Methods: From March 2005 to March 2006, demographic data, clinical presentation, investigations and antibiotic prescription for children with URTI (n = 184) at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital was recorded. To assess the factors which influence physician antibiotic prescription for URTI, a cross-sectional survey of doctors was carried out using a pre-tested questionnaire which was administered to paediatricians, general practitioners and emergency room physicians. Results: Antibiotics were given to 95 of the 184 (51.6%) patients, mainly children <3 years (40/95). Significant association was demonstrated for antibiotic prescription, age and diagnosis of tonsillitis or acute otitis media (p < 0.05). Amoxicillin (37/95) was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic, followed by β-lactam/β-lactamase combination and second-generation cephalosporins. Fever, younger age, sore throat and presence of earache increased the likelihood of antibiotic prescription. Data from the cross-sectional survey of doctors revealed that lack of national guidelines, parental pressure and diagnostic uncertainty contributed to antibiotic overuse. Conclusion: Antibiotic overuse for the treatment of paediatric URTI remains a problem in our setting. We suggest the development of national guidelines which are integrated with structured continuing medical education courses, public awareness campaigns and the introduction of rapid streptococcal antigen tests in the outpatient clinic.
Open Educational Resources - anonymity vs. specificity

English Open Educational Resources are a recent concept in regard of the organisation of world wide sharing of educational materials and tools. This concept is oriented at the model of OpenSource software production or Wikipedia. Also for institutions like the UNESCO or the OECD, which are interested in the development of OER, it is the main question how OER can be used on a scale as global as possible, and how relevant international co-operation and usage can be initiated. However OER are having some problems to reach a similar grade of effectiveness, because there are some crucial organisational and interactional differences to these successful open networks. One main problem is the tension between the openness and anonymity of digital information and the specificity of educational resources, which are usually made to fit into a specific teaching/learning context. German Open Educational Resources stellen ein neues Konzept des weltweiten Austauschs von Lehr-/Lernmaterialien und Hilfsmitteln hierfur dar. Dieses Konzept ist strukturell vom Modell der Produktion von OpenSource Software oder Wikipedia beeinflusst. Auch fur Organisationen wie die UNESCO oder die OECD, die sich fur die Entwicklung von OER interessieren, besteht eine Hauptfrage darin, wie OER moglichst global genutzt werden konnen, und wie diesbezugliche Kooperationen initiiert werden konnen. Allerdings erscheint es fur OER problematischer, einen ahnliches Mas an Effektivitat hervorzubringen wie die genannten offenen Netzwerke, da es hier erhebliche organisationale und interaktionale Unterschiede gibt. Ein Hauptproblem ist die Spannung zwischen der Offenheit und der Anonymitat digitaler Informationsguter einerseits sowie der notwendigen Spezifizitat von Lehr-/Lernmaterialien andererseits, insofern diese normalerweise fur einen spezifischen Lehr-/Lernkontext generiert werden
Fighting Blindness with Microelectronics

Electronic retinal implants for treating inherited diseases of retinal degeneration have entered the clinic, but many hurdles remain to achieving full vision. There is no approved cure for blindness caused by degeneration of the photoreceptor cells of the retina. However, there has been encouraging progress with attempts to restore vision using microelectronic retinal implant devices. Yet many questions remain to be addressed. Where is the best location to implant multielectrode arrays? How can spatial and temporal resolution be improved? What are the best ways to ensure the safety and longevity of these devices? Will color vision be possible? This Perspective discusses the current state of the art of retinal implants and attempts to address some of the outstanding questions.
Analysis of Articulation Between Clathrin and Retromer in Retrograde Sorting on Early Endosomes

Clathrin and retromer have key functions for retrograde trafficking between early endosomes and the trans‐Golgi network (TGN). Previous studies on Shiga toxin suggested that these two coat complexes operate in a sequential manner. Here, we show that the curvature recognition subunit component sorting nexin 1 (SNX1) of retromer interacts with receptor‐mediated endocytosis‐8 (RME‐8) protein, and that RME‐8 and SNX1 colocalize on early endosomes together with a model cargo of the retrograde route, the receptor‐binding B‐subunit of Shiga toxin (STxB). RME‐8 has previously been found to bind to the clathrin uncoating adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) Hsc70, and we now report that depletion of RME‐8 or Hsc70 affects retrograde trafficking at the early endosomes–TGN interface of STxB and the cation‐independent mannose 6‐phosphate receptor, an endogenous retrograde cargo protein. We also provide evidence that retromer interacts with the clathrin‐binding protein hepatocyte growth factor‐regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (Hrs) not only via SNX1, as previously published (Chin Raynor MC, Wei X, Chen HQ, Li L. Hrs interacts with sorting nexin 1 and regulates degradation of epidermal growth factor receptor. J Biol Chem 2001;276:7069–7078), but also via the core complex component Vps35. Hrs codistributes at the ultrastructural level with STxB on early endosomes, and interfering with Hrs function using antibodies or mild overexpression inhibits retrograde transport. Our combined data suggest a model according to which the functions in retrograde sorting on early endosomes of SNX1/retromer and clathrin are articulated by RME‐8, and possibly also by Hrs.
Molecular characterization of an Escherichia coli clinical isolate that produces both metallo-beta-lactamase VIM-2 and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase GES-7: identification of the In8 integron carrying the blaVIM-2 gene.

OBJECTIVES We have previously reported the isolation of a VIM-2-producing Escherichia coli clinical isolate and the coexistence of blaVIM-2 and blaGES-7 in the same isolate. The aim of this study was to elucidate the genetic environment of these genes. METHODS PCR and sequence analysis were used to identify and analyse the blaVIM-containing integron. The location of the blaVIM-2 and blaGES-7 genes was identified by hybridization experiments on I-CeuI-digested genomic DNA after PFGE. RESULTS Only the blaVIM-2 gene has been found on a class I integron, designated In8 (1474 bp). Hybridization with the blaVIM-2, the blaGES-7 and the 16S-23S rRNA probes confirmed the chromosomal location of both genes. The blaVIM-2 probe hybridized with a 710 kb fragment whereas the blaGES-7 probe hybridized with a 144 kb fragment of genomic DNA of the E. coli isolate. CONCLUSIONS This report provides evidence for the chromosomal location of both blaVIM-2 and blaGES-7 genes carried by an E. coli clinical isolate. In8, containing blaVIM-2, presents an emerging threat of carbapenem resistance among E. coli isolates in Greece.
Improving point matching on multimodal images using distance and orientation automatic filtering

Speed Up Robust Features SURF is one of the most popular and efficient methods used for image registration task. In order to achieve a correct registration, a good matching of feature point is required. However in the case of multimodal images, the high and non-linear intensity changes between different modalities led to many outliers (mismatching of detected points) and consequently a fail in the registration. Therefore, in this paper we introduce an efficient method devoted to the detection and removal of such outlier. It's based on an automatic filtering of outliers on both distance and orientation between features points. We tested our proposed method on a set of real multimodal images (4 modalities covering UV, IR Visible and fluorescence images) and compared it to classical SURF as well as SURF followed by RANSAC filtering. The results show that our method outperforms the others regarding all assessment criteria.
The histopathologic evolution of myocardial infarction.

The histologic criteria for determining the age of a myocardial infarct were established by Mallory et al in 1939. The present study was undertaken to reexamine more quantitatively the evolution of myocardial infarction and to determine the prevalence of two recently described pathologic findings: wavy fibers and myocytolysis. The medical records of 1,155 patients dying of myocardial infarction from 1964 to 1973 were reviewed, and 192 cases in which the age of the infarct could be determined accurately were studied. As in the study by Mallory et al, acute inflammatory changes predominated during the first week, chronic inflammatory changes peaked during the second week, and proliferation of connective tissue dominated during the third week. In 35 percent (7/20) of the myocardial infarctions that were 22 to 35 days old, healing was not complete. Ninety-four percent (47/50) of the myocardial infarctions that were less than 24 hours old had “wavy fibers,” but only one-fifth of all myocardial infarctions had focal myocytolysis. Waviness appears to be due to ischemic injury of fibers and may be the earliest light-microscopic change in evolving myocardial infarction, while myocytolysis does not appear to be related to ischemia per se. Although the therapy for acute myocardial infarction has changed markedly since 1939, this has not altered the pathologic evolution of the myocardial lesion.
ADAPTIVE DIVERGENCE IN PLASTICITY IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF IMPATIENS CAPENSIS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR PERFORMANCE IN NOVEL HABITATS

Abstract We tested for adaptive differentiation between two natural populations of Impatiens capensis from sites known to differ in selection on plasticity to density. We also determined the degree to which plasticity to density within a site was correlated with plastic responses of experimental immigrants to foreign sites. Inbred lines, derived from natural populations in an open-canopy site and a woodland site, were planted reciprocally in both original sites at naturally occurring high densities and at low density. The density manipulation represents environmental variation typically experienced within the site of a given population, and the transplant manipulation represents environmental differences between sites of different populations. Internode elongation, meristem allocation, leaf length, flowering date, and total lifetime fitness were measured. Genotypes originating in the open site, where selection favored plasticity of first internode length and flowering time (Donohue et al. 2000a), were more plastic in those characters than genotypes originating from the woodland site, where plasticity was maladaptive. Therefore, these two populations appear to have responded to divergent selection on plasticity. Plasticity to density strongly resembled plasticity to site differences for many characters, suggesting that similar environmental factors elicit plasticity both to density and to overhead canopy. Thus, plasticity that evolved in response to density variation within a site influenced phenotypic expression in the foreign site. Plastic responses to site caused immigrants from foreign populations to resemble native genotypes more closely. In particular, immigrants from the open site converged toward the selectively favored early-flowering phenotype of native genotypes in the woodland site, thereby reducing potential fitness differences between foreign and native genotypes. However, because genotypes from the woods population were less plastic than genotypes from the sun population, phenotypic differences between populations were greatest in the open site at low density. Therefore, population differences in plasticity can cause genotypes from foreign populations to be more strongly selected against in some environments than in others. However, genetic constraints and limits to plasticity prevented complete convergence of immigrants to the native phenotype in any environment. Corresponding Editor: S. Tonsor
Molecular Ordering of the Initial Signaling Events of CD95

ABSTRACT Binding of either ligand or agonistic antibodies to the death receptor CD95 (APO-1/Fas) induces the formation of the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC). We now show that signal initiation of CD95 in type I cells can be further separated into at least four distinct steps. (i) The first step is ligand-induced formation of CD95 microaggregates at the cell surface. (ii) The second step is recruitment of FADD to form a DISC. This step is dependent on actin filaments. (iii) The third step involves formation of large CD95 surface clusters. This event is positively regulated by DISC-generated caspase 8. (iv) The fourth step is internalization of activated CD95 through an endosomal pathway. The latter step is again dependent on the presence of actin filaments. The data indicate that the signal initiation by CD95 is a complex process actively regulated at various levels, providing a number of new drug targets to specifically modulate CD95 signaling.